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WINDHAM  PAPE 


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WITH  AN   INTRODUCTION 
BY  THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE 

THE  EARL  OF  ROSEBERY 


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THE    WINDHAM    PAPERS 


WHY  MAY  NOT  THE  LIFE  OF  WINDHAM 

BE    WRITTEN    BY    HIS    LETTERS  ? 

New  Monthlv  Magazine^  Dec.  i8jz 


THE 
WINDHAM  PAPERS 

THE  LIFE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  OF  THE 
RT.  HON.  WILLIAM  WINDHAM  1750- 1810 
A  MEMBER  OF  PITT'S  FIRST  CABINET  AND 
THE  MINISTRY  OF  "ALL  THE  TALENTS" 
INCLUDING  HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED 
LETTERS  FROM  GEORGE  III  THE  DUKES 
OF  YORK  AND  GLOUCESTER  PITT  FOX 
BURKE  CANNING  LORDS  GRENVILLE  MINTO 
CASTLEREAGH  AND  NELSON  MALONE 
COBBETT    DR.  JOHNSON    DR.  BURNEY   ETC. 

WITH 
AN  INTRODUCTION  BY  THE  RT.  HON. 

THE    EARL   OF    ROSEBERY 

K.G.  K.T. 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOLUME    ONE 


BOSTON 
SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS  MCMXni 


'  .  ^  .»  . 


THE  BALLANTYNE  PRESS  TAVISTOCK  STREET  COVENT  GARDEN  LONDON 


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INTRODUCTION 

^_  BY  THE  RT.  HON. 

o  THE  EARL  OF  ROSEBERY,  K.G„  K.T. 

ILLIAM  WINDHAM   was   the   finest 

English  gentleman  of  his  or  perhaps 

of  all  time.    Had  he  lived  in  the  great 

days  of  Elizabeth,  he  would  have  been 

g  one  of  the  heroes  of  her  reign  ;   indeed  he  almost 

J  seemed  out  of  place  in  the  times  of  George  HI. 

As  a  country  gentleman  no  doubt  he  was  not  the 

equal  of  his  friend  and  neighbour  Coke,  whom 

^^  genius  and  fortune  made  the  greatest  of  bene- 

,,  factors  to  agriculture  ;    but  Coke  as  a  politician 

[^was  narrow  and  fanatical.     And  with  devotion 

^  to  rural  life  and  manly  sport  Windham  combined 

much  more.     He  was  a  statesman,  an  orator,  a 

mathematician,  a  scholar,  and  the  most  fascinating 

talker  of  his  day.     He  was  brilliant  in  that  galaxy 

which  comprised  Johnson  and  Burke,  Pitt,  Fox, 

land  Sheridan,  though  their  memory  will  survive 

'his.     For,   by   the   irony   of   events,   he   is   now 

V  'best  remembered   as   the   successful  advocate  of 

bull-baiting.     So  that  it  is  worth  while  to  revive 

his  real  character  and  repute. 

As  a  statesman  he  was  proud  of  his  independence, 
a  rare  and  intrepid  quality  in  political  life.     It 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

was  indeed  reproached  against  him  that  he  was  so 
enamoured  with  this  virtue  that  he  sought  out 
occasions  of  being  on  the  unpopular  side.  This, 
indeed,  if  it  were  true  of  him,  is  not  Hkely  to  be  a 
contagious  quahty.  It  could  only  exist  so  far  as 
parliamentary  life  is  concerned  in  the  House  of 
Lords  or  in  close  boroughs,  and  Windham  was 
at  last  driven  to  this  last  refuge.  He  was  more 
than  once  invited  to  join  the  House  of  Lords,  but 
he  greatly  preferred  Higham  Ferrers  or  St.  Mawes. 
This  aloofness,  mainly  due  to  the  paramount 
influence  of  Burke,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
Windham  in  domestic  politics  could  be  found 
arrayed  with  both  the  great  political  parties. 
He  was  the  enthusiastic  advocate  of  Roman 
Catholic  emancipation,  and  the  unflinching 
opponent  of  parliamentary  reform.  He  had  a 
foot  therefore  firmly  planted  in  each  of  the  two 
camps.  He  was,  however,  in  reality  by  tempera- 
ment a  Tory.  No  disciple  of  Burke  could  be  other 
than  a  supporter  of  Catholic  emancipation.  But 
where  Windham  was  left  to  himself  his  attitude 
to  politics  was  strongly  conservative.  He  was 
not  indeed  often  left  to  himself.  For  it  is  strange 
to  find  of  a  man  who  piqued  himself  on  indepen- 
dence that  no  one  was  so  susceptible  to  personal 
influence.  It  is  this  circumstance  which  gives  a 
strange  and  fickle  appearance  to  his  political 
career.  He  was  called  by  turns  a  Foxite,  a  Pittite, 
a    Grenvillite,    and    a    Greyite,    but    was  always 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

and  supremely  a  Burkite.  Burke  influenced  many 
minds,  but  none  so  much  as  Windham's.  It 
was  his  essential  fidelity  to  the  creed  of  Burke 
which  made  him  apparently  variable.  No  man 
indeed  under  an  appearance  of  change  was  so  truly 
faithful  to  his  principles  and  himself.  But  as  Burke 
was  charged  with  inconsistency,  so,  as  a  necessary 
consequence,  was  Windham.  He  seemed  to  wish 
always  to  know  what  Burke  thought  or  would 
have  thought  on  any  subject,  and  when  he  knew, 
to  feel  no  doubt  or  misgiving.  In  the  great  agony 
of  the  Whig  party,  when  every  Whig  felt  the 
anguish  of  a  separation  from  Fox,  Windham 
hesitated  for  a  moment.  He  was  under  the  charm 
of  Fox,  whose  tastes  he  shared ;  but  as  soon  as 
the  voice  of  the  master  was  heard,  clear  and 
imperative,  Windham  came  to  his  side,  without 
further  question  or  doubt. 

When  the  storm  of  the  French  Revolution  broke, 
it  swept  all  minor  issues  away  ;  you  were  either 
a  "  Jacobin  "  or  an  "  anti- Jacobin  "  ;  you  either 
thought  that  good  might  come  out  of  the  convulsion 
while  deploring  its  excesses  ;  or  you  saw  in  it  the 
root  of  all  evil,  you  descried  its  poison  in  all  sorts 
of  unexpected  forms  and  developments,  and  you 
proclaimed  that  the  Revolution  was  the  monster 
to  be  destroyed  at  all  costs.  The  reader  indeed 
becomes  a  little  weary  of  the  monotonous  de- 
nunciation of  "  Jacobinism  "  and  "  Jacobins"  in  the 
speeches  of  Windham  and  the  writings  of  Burke. 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

No  consideration  of  means  or  proportion  weighed 
with  either  for  one  moment.  The  dragon  must  be 
utterly  exterminated,  even  should  it  devour  all  the 
available  St.  Georges  in  the  process.  Then  and 
then  only  should  we  have  done  our  duty.  Then 
and  then  only  would  the  world  know  peace. 

This  violence  of  conviction  kept  Windham  both 
uncompromising  and  independent.  Though  he 
joined  Pitt  he  regarded  Pitt  as  little  less  than  a 
necessary  evil,  as  a  minister  who  had  parlia- 
mentary power  and  so  was  able  to  carry  on  the 
war  with  France,  but  who  fell  sadly  short  of  grace. 
They  were  only  colleagues  in  a  war,  as  to  the 
methods  and  objects  of  which  they  fundamentally 
differed. 

To  Pitt  the  war  was  a  disagreeable  necessity 
forced  on  him  by  circumstance,  but  from  which  he 
hoped  that  circumstance  would  relieve  him  and 
his  country.  To  Windham  it  was  a  high  and  holy 
crusade  to  be  carried  on  to  extermination.  The 
object  with  him  was  to  replace  on  the  throne  of 
France  the  sacred  race  of  Bourbon.  Pitt  cared 
less  than  nothing  for  the  Bourbons,  his  object 
was  the  preservation  of  his  country,  and  of  some 
sort  of  balance  of  power.  Windham  looked  on 
him  therefore  as  a  Peter  the  Hermit  may  have 
looked  on  a  soldier  of  fortune.  When  Pitt  retired 
Windham  felt  relief,  he  was  no  longer  linked  to  an 
uncongenial  colleague,  and  was  free  to  pummel 
the  luckless  Addington  and  Addington's  peace. 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

He  thundered  against  this  truce  with  the  evil 
one,  but  some  years  afterwards  acknowledged  his 
error  manfully  enough  to  Addington.  For  he  saw 
in  1809,  what  Pitt  had  seen  in  1801,  that  a  pause 
was  necessary  to  recruit  the  exhausted  energies 
of  Great  Britain.  When  Pitt  returned  to  office, 
Windham  thundered  against  Pitt ;  Pitt  was 
inadequate,  all  that  he  did  was  insufficient.  But 
Windham  had  yet  to  give  a  further  and  final 
proof  of  independence.  For,  when  Pitt  died,  he 
joined  Grenville's  cabinet,  and  when  that  ministry 
came  to  an  end  in  the  ensuing  year,  was  fierce 
against  Grenville  and  on  the  brink  of  an  individual 
resignation. 

All  these  changes,  though  they  were  nominal 
and  not  real,  put  him  in  the  bad  books  of  both 
political  parties.  He  obtained  the  nickname  of 
the  '^  Weather-cock  "  ;  the  virulent  and  pedantic 
Parr  called  him  the  ''  Apostate."  But  the  in- 
dependent man  in  politics  must  accustom  himself 
to  harder  knocks  than  nicknames.  Windham  was 
indeed  the  most  consistent  of  politicians.  He  was 
neither  Whig  nor  Tory,  but  always  an  anti- 
Jacobin,  and  always,  as  has  been  already  said,  a 
Burkite. 

His  oratory  must  have  been  remarkable ; 
though  his  voice  was  ineffective.  But  he  had 
presence  and  charm.  He  was  not  indeed  hand- 
some, yet  his  deportment  was  manly  and 
dignified.     "A  tall,  thin,  meagre,  sallow,  black- 


X  INTRODUCTION 

eyed,  penetrating,  keen-looking  figure."  We  have 
three  volumes  of  his  speeches,  but  reporting 
in  those  days  does  not  seem  vivid  or  exact,  and 
latterly  Windham  rushing,  as  his  way  was,  to 
join  an  unpopular  cause,  quarrelled  with  the  press, 
and  henceforth  went  unreported.  But  he  revised 
and  published  several  of  his  orations  from  which 
a  fair  idea  of  his  powers  may  be  obtained.  One 
of  these,  that  in  which  as  Secretary  for  War  he 
developed  his  military  proposals  in  1806,  was 
pronounced  by  Fox  to  be  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
ever  delivered.  Fox's  nephew.  Lord  Holland, 
who  did  not  like  Windham,  gave  him  the  highest 
praise  as  an  orator.  In  fancy  and  imagery,  in 
taste  and  above  all  in  delivery,  says  Holland,  he 
was  far  superior  to  the  great  god  of  his  idolatry 
Mr.  Burke.  In  variety  of  illustration,  in  acuteness 
of  logic,  he  scarcely  yielded  to  Fox.  In  felicity  of 
language  he  approached  Pitt.  In  true  wit  and 
ingenuity  he  more  than  rivalled  Sheridan.  Testi- 
mony of  this  kind  from  a  man  who  had  heard 
Windham  is  worth  a  ton  of  criticism  from  the 
student  who  can  only  read  him.  What  a  reader 
would  say  of  his  recorded  efforts  is  that  they  are 
characterised  by  closely-knit  and  evenphilosophical 
argument,  couched  in  the  lofty  style  of  those  days. 
But  their  distinctive  charm  was  originality, 
a  felicitous  agility  and  unexpectedness  of  mind, 
a  raciness  of  expression  and  sudden  bursts  of 
pleasantry  which  probably  drew  to  him  fully  as 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

great  a  House  as  even  Pitt  or  Fox  could  command. 
Of  his  quaint  humour  the  best  sustained  example 
is  the  speech  on  the  Repeal  of  the  Additional 
Force  Act  in  May  1806  ;  its  fun  is  still  brisk 
and  vivid.  His  most  famous  flash  of  fun  was 
on  the  intention  to  take  Antwerp  by  a  coup 
de  main.  **  Good  God,  Sir,  talk  of  a  coup  de 
main  with  forty  thousand  men  and  thirty- 
three  sail  of  the  line  !  Gentlemen  might  as 
well  talk  of  a  coup  de  main  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery."  This  drollery  convulsed  the  House, 
and  made,  it  is  said,  that  grave  and  illustrious 
judge,  Sir  William  Grant,  roll  from  his  seat  with 
laughter.  So  happy  a  jest  survives  superior 
arguments  on  forgotten  bills.  Another  sally,  still 
more  memorable,  was  that  with  which  he  slew  a 
Reform  Bill,  as  with  a  smooth  stone  from  the 
brook.  "  No  one,"  he  said,  "  would  select  the 
hurricane  season  in  which  to  begin  repairing  his 
house";  a  happy  metaphor  containing  sound 
political  truth.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Windham 
at  his  death  was  the  finest  speaker  in  parliament ; 
the  other  giants  had  gone  ;  Sheridan  was  extinct, 
and  Canning  had  not  reached  his  full  development. 
What  is  most  remarkable  is  the  rapidity  with 
which  he  reached  a  high  parliamentary  position. 
He  delivered  his  maiden  speech  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  February  1785,  and  in  1787  he  was 
considered  of  sufficient  weight  to  be  entrusted 
with  one  of  the  charges,  and  nominated  one  of  the 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

managers  of  the  impeachment  of  Warren  Hastings. 
Nine  years  after  his  first  speech  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Cabinet,  a  far  greater  and  more  limited 
distinction  then  than  now,  besides  being  in  virtue 
of  a  minor  office  which  had  never  before  been 
associated  with  Cabinet  rank.  He  was,  moreover, 
the  only  Cabinet  Minister  in  the  Commons  with 
Pitt  and  Dundas.  So  rapid  a  rise  is  seldom 
recorded,  and  proves  a  command  of  parliament 
by  eloquence  and  character  such  as  few  men  of 
his  standing  can  have  achieved. 

As  a  minister  there  is  less  to  be  said.  He  was 
always  connected  with  the  War  Office,  a  territory 
which  it  is  perilous  for  a  civilian  even  in  narrative 
to  tread.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  few 
pebbles  which  he  left  on  the  shore  of  military 
history  scarcely  constitute  a  memorial  cairn.  But 
it  must  be  remembered  that  during  the  first 
seven  years  of  his  administration  he  was  not  the 
Secretary  of  State,  but  a  nominally  subordinate 
minister,  though  with  all  the  influence  of  Cabinet 
office ;  and  that  he  was  only  Secretary  of  State  for 
a  year.  Still  it  was  notorious  that,  though  ardent 
and  vigorous,  he  was  a  bad  man  of  business.  In 
his  first  office  he  was  responsible  for  the  disaster 
of  Quiberon,  which  represented  his  personal  policy 
of  carrying  on  the  war  by  supporting  the  French 
Royalists  on  the  soil  of  France.  During  his 
second  short  tenure  he  countenanced  the  amazing 
scheme  of  despatching  an  inadequate  army  for 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

vague  purposes  of  conquest  in  South  America, 
when  we  needed  every  man  and  every  musket 
in  Europe  to  grapple  with  Napoleon.     This  is  no 
captivating  record.     On  the  other  hand  it  stands 
to    his   credit    that    he    shortened    the   term    of 
service  in  spite  of  the  formidable  resistance  of 
George  III.     To   the   volunteers   he   was  stoutly 
opposed,  though  he  had  a  private  but  eccentric 
corps  at  Felbrigg  in  which  he  was  the  only  officer. 
But  few  and  rare  are  the  British  ministers  of  War 
who  have  earned  distinction,  for  the  conditions  of 
their  office  render  success  hardly  possible.     The 
nation  which  furnishes  superb  military  material 
is  absorbed  in  the  primary  interest  of  the  fleet,  and 
though  it  passively  votes  vast  sums  for  its  army 
never    gives    that     active    interest    and    support 
which  strengthens  the  arm  of  the  minister.     The 
one  great  exception  is  Chatham.     But  Chatham, 
like  Napoleon,  wielded  the  whole  strength  of  the 
Empire,  political,  financial,   naval   and  military, 
and  was  backed  by  the  confident  enthusiasm  of 
his  country. 

The  real  reputation  of  Windham,  apart  from  his 
oratory,  lay  in  the  charm  of  his  conversation.  In 
that  vanished  realm  he  was  a  prince.  Testimony 
on  the  point  is  unanimous.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
no  one  has  recorded  a  meeting  with  Windham 
who  is  not  a  witness  to  his  fascination.  Miss 
Burney  gives  a  lively  account  of  her  talks  with 
him  during  the  Hastings  trial  which  enables  us  to 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

realise  in  a  measure  how  it  was  that  he  won,  if  not 
all  hearts,  at  least  sympathetic  admiration.  His 
expression  was  various  and  vivid.  He  was  earnest, 
playful,  and  eloquent.  He  had  the  faculty,  which 
is  perhaps  the  most  attractive  of  all,  of  appearing 
to  give  his  very  best  to  the  person  with  whom  he 
was  conversing.  Talk  may  be  recorded,  but  its 
spell  cannot.  And  so,  though  we  rejoice  in  Miss 
Burney's  record,  we  feel  that  we  must  rely  on 
tradition,  which,  in  so  controversial  a  matter,  must 
be  held,  when  unanimous,  to  be  an  authority 
beyond  dispute.  The  supreme  judgment,  from 
which  there  is  no  appeal,  is  that  of  Johnson. 
Windham  had  been  elected  to  the  famous  Club 
when  he  was  a  country  gentleman  of  twenty-eight, 
a  sufficient  tribute  to  his  precocious  repute.  But 
in  1784,  when  the  great  man  was  near  his  end, 
Windham  went  far  out  of  his  way  to  spend  a 
day  and  a  half  with  him  at  Ashbourne.  "  Such 
conversation,"  writes  the  dying  sage,  "  I  shall 
not  have  again  till  I  come  back  to  the  regions  of 
literature ;  and  there  Windham  is  inter  Stellas 
Luna  minores."  Such  a  testimony  from  such  a 
man  is  almost  unique,  but  it  is  in  truth 
confirmed  by  every  witness. 

Conversational  fascination  is  apt  to  be  a  snare, 
and  we  are  bound  to  hazard  an  opinion  that 
Windham  was  a  flirt.  And  yet  there  was  no 
character  that  he  condemned  so  strongly.  Before 
going  up  in  a  balloon  he  addressed  a  testamentary 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

letter  to  Cholmondeley,  his  closest  friend,  re- 
monstrating strongly  on  Cholmondeley's  conduct 
to  a  certain  Miss  Cecilia  Forrest.  Cholmondeley, 
he  declared,  had  ruined  the  girl's  life,  by  inspiring 
her  with  a  fatal  affection  of  which  he  was  un- 
worthy. Thirteen  years  afterwards,  with  singular 
secrecy,  Windham  married  the  lady  himself.  He 
was  then  forty-eight  and  she  past  forty.  And  he 
completed  this  unusual  transaction  by  making 
Cholmondeley  one  of  his  reversionary  heirs.  This 
is  Windham  all  over.  And  we  also  learn  that  he 
had  fallen,  perhaps  unconsciously,  into  the  same 
error  with  which  he  had  reproached  his  friend. 
He  had  engaged  the  affections  of  a  daughter  of 
Sir  Philip  Francis,  and  a  lady  endeavouring  to 
console  the  unhappy  girl  told  her  that  Windham 
had  long  hesitated  between  Miss  Forrest  and  a 
devoted  widow.  In  this  one  letter,  therefore,  we 
are  confronted  with  three  ladies  whose  hearts  were 
captured  by  Windham.  He  had,  moreover,  come 
under  the  magic  charm  of  Mrs.  Crewe.  To  Mrs. 
Crewe,  and  Mrs.  Crewe  alone,  he  confided  the 
secret  of  his  marriage,  and  he  records  his  agita- 
tion at  meeting  her  immediately  after  the  event. 
But  perhaps  the  most  authentic  basis  for  conviction 
as  regards  Windham's  attraction  for  the  other  sex 
is  Lady  Minto's  remark  on  his  resignation  in  1801  : 
"I  suppose  he  will  return  to  his  old  line  of 
gallantry."  There  let  us  leave  the  matter.  It  is 
worthy  of  observation  as  an  essential  part  of  a 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

whimsical  character.  We  may  be  sure  that 
Windham's  flirtations  were  unconscious,  honour- 
able, and  innocent. 

Unhappily,  he  was  fated  to  be  something  of  a 
suicide,  for  he  dealt  an  almost  mortal  blow  to  his 
own  reputation.  For  we  cannot  doubt  that  it 
would  have  stood  much  higher  but  for  his  Diary. 
And  yet  he  himself  set  store  by  it,  as  if,  one  would 
think,  he  regarded  it  as  a  sure  base  for  his  future 
fame.  He  left  the  fourteen  quarto  volumes  of 
which  it  was  composed  as  an  heirloom  to  pass 
with  the  entailed  estates,  and  yet  any  judicious 
friend  would  have  put  it  without  hesitation  behind 
the  fire.  Extracts  of  this  strange  record  were  pub- 
lished by  Mrs.  Baring  in  1866,  after  the  estates 
and  entail  had  all  disappeared  in  the  hands  of  a 
hapless  and  irresponsible  spendthrift.  As  so  much 
has  been  afforded,  it  is  regrettable  that  more 
should  not  be  given.  Lord  Holland  and  Charles 
Greville  intimate  that  parts  could  not  be  made 
public.  But  it  seems  clear  that  we  have  not  all 
the  decorous  portions  of  the  fourteen  quarto 
volumes,  and  these  we  should  possess  to  complete 
a  veracious  and  candid,  though  damaging,  auto- 
biography. 

In  the  Diary,  which  is  almost  valueless  as  a 
record  of  historical  fact  from  the  extreme  vague- 
ness of  date  and  expression,  we  have  an  exact, 
though  painful,  picture  of  Windham's  character, 
and  an  explanation  of  why  it  was  that  he  did  not 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

achieve  more  in  public  life.     It  is  full  of  vacillation 
on  the  smallest  points  of  conduct,  full  of  morbid 
self-reproach  on  every  subject,  and  in  a  minor 
degree  disfigured  by  a  lavish  use  of  the  distressing 
substantive   '*  feel,"  almost  if  not  quite  peculiar 
to  himself.      Windham,  indeed,  though  in  public 
life  he  held  firmly  to  his  main  convictions,  in 
private  life  and  in  smaller  matters  was  singularly 
variable.     On  the  all-important  question  of  mar- 
riage, as  we  have  seen,  he  seems  to  have  hesitated 
long.    That  may  have  been  wise,  but  he  records 
endless   agitations   about   a   ride,   a   walk,    or   a 
speech.   Conscientious  diaries  are  apt  to  make  men 
morbid,  and  this  one  is  certainly  an  instance  in 
point.     He  seemed  to  worry  himself  with  his  pen. 
One  passage  indeed  redeems  the  whole  book :  it  is 
the  pathetic  description  of  his  last  interview  with 
Dr.  Johnson.    That  is  classic.     But  it  is  counter- 
balanced by  a  denunciation  of  a  literary  *gem 
of  purest  ray  serene,'  the  delightful  '*  Vicar  of 
Wakefield."     We  may  surmise  that  this  outburst 
may   have    been  elicited   by  Windham's  having 
heard  it  excessively  praised,  which  would  certainly 
drive    him  into    extravagant    reaction.      Count- 
less are  the  caprices   of  these  strange  journals. 
It  had  been  better  for  his  fame  had  this  heirloom 
disappeared  with  the  others. 

Still,  with  all  deductions,  he  remains  a  noble 
figure.  The  influence  of  Johnson  and  Burke, 
grafted  on  to  the  stock  of  a  fine  and  cultivated 

I  b 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

nature,  could  not  but  produce  goodly  fruit.  His 
prime  quality  was  independence,  at  once  the 
choicest  and  the  least  serviceable  of  all  qualities 
in  political  life.  He  was  on  the  other  hand 
excessive,  like  his  great  master,  Burke ;  excessive 
in  enthusiasm,  excessive  in  resentment.  To  him, 
for  example,  when  a  manager  of  the  great  impeach- 
ment, Warren  Hastings  was  the  vilest  of 
criminals.  But  to  him  also,  though  their  relations 
were  not  always  easy,  Burke  was  among  the  gods. 
There  was  in  truth  a  want  of  balance  in  this 
rare  character  which  marred  its  great  qualities. 
It  was  this,  from  a  fanciful  fear  of  deterioration 
in  the  British  character,  that  made  him  preach 
bull-baiting.  It  was  this  which  made  him  deem 
it  necessary,  in  the  midst  of  the  national  grief  for 
Pitt,  to  stand  up  and  oppose  the  funeral  honours 
proposed  ;  a  course  which  brought  him  many 
enemies  and  which  seemed  in  execrable  taste. 
But  the  mere  fact  of  isolation  was  the  same 
temptation  to  him  that  the  company  of  an  over- 
whelming majority  is  to  meaner  minds.  His  argu- 
ment, weak  enough  at  best,  for  "  'tis  not  in  mortals 
to  command  success,"  was  that  Pitt's  policy  had 
not  triumphed,  and  that  distinctions  denied  to 
Burke  should  not  be  given  to  failure.  Most  men 
who  felt  the  same  would  at  that  tragic  moment 
have  held  their  peace.  But  such  a  decent  com- 
pliance seemed  cowardice  to  Windham ;  so  he 
v.ound  his  melancholy  horn.     This  same  irritable 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

conscience  made  him  an  uncomfortable  colleague, 
and  it  is  noteworthy  to  observe  how  strenuously 
the  idea  of  relegating  him  to  the  House  of 
Lords  was  pressed  by  Grenville,  as  it  had  occurred 
to  Pitt.  It  was  strange,  as  Windham  himself 
remarked,  that  Grenville  should  be  so  anxious 
to  move  the  best  speaker  that  his  ministry 
possessed  in  the  House  of  Commons  out  of  that 
chamber  into  the  House  of  Lords.  Promotion 
for  another  Grenville  was  no  doubt  the  urgent 
cause,  but,  as  that  could  be  managed,  and  was 
managed  in  other  ways,  there  were  probably 
reasons  connected  with  Windham  himself.  Inde- 
pendence in  a  public  man  is,  we  think,  a  quality 
as  splendid  as  it  is  rare.  But  it  is  apt  to  produce 
and  develop  acute  angles.  Now  a  colleague  with 
angles  is  a  superfluous  discomfort.  And  in- 
dependence in  a  great  orator  on  the  Treasury 
bench  is  a  rocket  of  which  one  cannot  predict  the 
course. 

His  independence  then,  admirable  in  itself,  was 
a  conspicuous  bar  to  his  success  in  politics.  He 
was  not  indeed  formed  by  nature  for  a  politician 
in  a  country  where  party  rules  the  roast.  We 
will  go  a  step  further,  and  hazard  the  opinion  that 
his  heart  was  never  really  in  politics  at  all. 
He  loved  mathematics,  he  loved  the  classics,  he 
loved  reading,  he  loved  country  life;  but  for 
parliament  he  had  no  natural  propensity.  From 
his    first    contact    with    politics    in    Ireland    he 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

instinctively  shrank.  His  self-conscious,  self- 
tormenting  nature  was  indeed  wholly  unsuited  for 
public  life.  But  he  loved  oratory.  From  the 
moment  when  he  found  that  he  wielded  that 
rare  power  over  his  fellow  men  he  delighted 
in  exercising  it.  And  he  was  imbued  with 
one  burning  enthusiasm,  the  crusade  against 
Jacobinism.  He  conceived  himself  to  be  the 
bearer  of  the  sacred  torch  handed  to  him  by 
Burke.  This  was  his  single  purpose ;  oratory  and 
the  French  Revolution  kept  him  in  political  life. 
Fox  said  cynically  that  Windham  owed  his  fame 
to  having  been  much  frightened.  But  those  who 
were  apprehensive  in  that  dark  period  were  wiser 
than  those  children  of  light  who,  like  Fox,  were 
content  to  watch  the  Revolution  with  blind  and 
heedless  favour. 

Such  then  was  Windham.  A  noble  gentleman 
in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  full  of  light, 
intellect,  and  dignity,  loved  and  lamented.  His 
best  qualities,  no  doubt,  as  is  often  the  case,  he 
carried  almost  to  excess  ;  for  his  cherished  inde- 
pendence led  to  a  morbid  craving  for  isolation. 
But  to  the  charge  of  vacillation  in  public  affairs 
he  was  not  obnoxious ;  he  was  always  true  to  his 
faith.  He  was  indeed  vitally  influenced  by  two 
men.  But  he  chose  his  masters  well,  Johnson 
and  Burke ;  the  one  gave  him  his  religious,  the 
other  his  political  creed.  In  life  he  was  brilliant 
and   successful.     In   oratory,  in   parliament,   in 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

society,  he  was  almost  supreme.  But  he  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  survive.  He  left  no  stamp, 
no  school,  no  work.  To  those,  however,  who  care 
to  disinter  his  memory  he  displays  character  and 
qualities  of  excellence,  rare  at  all  times,  rarest  in 
these. 

ROSEBERY 


OPINIONS  OF  CONTEMPORARIES 

"  The  first  gentleman  of  his  age,  the  ingenuous,  the  chivalrous,  the 
high-souled  Windham." — Macaiday. 

"  He  is  just  as  he  should  be  !  If  I  were  Windham  this  minute,  I 
should  not  wish  to  be  thinner,  nor  fatter,  nor  taller,  nor  shorter,  nor 
any  way,  nor  in  any  thing,  altered." — Edmund  Burke. 

"  Poor  Mr.  Windham  is,  I  fear,  dying.  He  will  be  a  sad  loss  to 
society  :  I  never  knew  a  man  so  felt  for  as  he  is." — Lady  Sarah 
Spencer,  in  a  letter  dated.  May  31,  1810.  "  Correspondence  of  Sarah 
Spencer,  Lady  Lyttelton,"  p.  107. 

■'  Mr.  Windham  was  there,  whose  conversation  I  could  live  upon  any 
length  of  time  ;  it  is  quite  perfection  ;  but  he  staid  only  one  night." 
— The  Dowager  Lady  Spencer,  in  a  letter  dated  December  16,  1807. 
"  Correspondence  of  Sarah  Spencer,  Lady  Lyttelton,"  p.  5. 

■'  Good  breeding,  in  England,  among  the  men,  is  ordinarily  stiff, 
reserved,  or  cold.  Among  the  exceptions  to  this  stricture,  how  high 
stood  Mr.  Windham  !  .  .  .  He  is  one  of  the  most  agreeable,  spirited, 
well-bred,  and  brilliant  conversers  I  have  ever  spoken  with.  He 
is  ...  a  man  of  family  and  fortune,  with  a  very  pleasing,  though  not 
handsome  face,  a  very  elegant  figure,  and  an  air  of  fashion  and 
vivacity." — Fanny  Burney. 

"  His  person  was  graceful,  elegant,  and  accomplished  ;  slender  ;  but 
not  meagre.  The  lineaments  of  his  countenance,  though  they  dis- 
played the  ravages  of  the  small-pox,  were  pleasing,  and  retained  a 
character  of  animation,  blended  with  spirit  and  intelligence.  Over  his 
whole  figure,  nature  had  thrown  an  air  of  mind.  His  manners  corre- 
sponded with  his  external  appearance  ;  and  his  conversation  displayed 
the  treasures  of  a  highly  cultivated  understanding." — Sir  Nathaniel 
William  Wraxall. 


xxii 


PREFACE 

IT  is  strange  that  though  more  than  a  hundred  years 
have  passed  since  WilHam  Windham  died,  no  full 
biography  of  him  has  hitherto  been  composed. 
This  is  the  more  astonishing  because  he  has  been 
the  subject  of  more  panegyrics  than  any  man  of  his 
time.  Friends  and  foes  alike  loved  and  honoured  him, 
and  his  foes  were  not  less  eager  than  his  friends  to  sing 
his  praises.  He  was  the  intimate  of  Johnson  and  Burke 
and  Fox,  the  political  associate  of  Pitt,  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land, and  Lord  Grenville.  He  was  a  favourite  with 
George  III.,  he  was  beloved  by  Malone  ;  Jeffrey  had  a 
good  word  for  him,  Brougham  could  not  speak  too  highly 
of  him,  Fanny  Burney  exhausted  her  superlatives  in 
describing  him.  Years  later  Macaulay  summed  up  the 
general  opinion  of  the  statesman's  contemporaries  and 
of  succeeding  generations  by  dubbing  him  "  high-souled 
Windham." 

Windham  died  on  June  4,  1810,  and  to  the  next  issue 
of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  Malone  contributed  an 
appreciative  obituary  notice.  Thomas  Amyot  desired 
to  write  the  biography  of  the  man  whose  private  secre- 
tary he  had  been  for  many  years,  and  in  February 
181 1  he  appHed  to  the  executors,  Heneage  Leggc  and 
Mr.  Palmer,  to  be  entrusted  with  the  Diaries  and  other 
papers.  The  executors,  however,  induced  George  Ellis, 
now  best  remembered  as  a  contributor  to  the  Rolliad 
and  the  Anti- Jacobin,  to  undertake  the  task.  Amyot, 
however,  was  determined  to  pay  tribute  to  his  old  master 


XXUl 


xxiv  PREFACE 

and  friend,  and  this  he  did  in  an  admirable  but  brief 
memoir  which  he  appended  to  a  collection  of  Windham's 
speeches,  published  in  three  volumes  in  1812.  George 
Ellis,  in  the  meantime,  made  little  or  no  progress  with  the 
official  biography,  and  he  was,  he  admitted,  overwhelmed 
by  the  vast  mass  of  papers  to  be  examined.  So  late  as 
January  1814  he  wrote  to  Heneage  Legge  :  "  Every 
information  that  can  be  collected  respecting  his  early 
life  would  be  very  acceptable  but  how  are  they  to  be 
procured  ?— Alas  !  I  know  not."i  When  Ellis  died  in 
1815  he  had  finished  only  an  introductory  note  to  the 
Diaries.  This  was  published  in  1866  by  Mr.  Henry 
Baring,  as  a  Preface  to  a  volume  of  Selections  from  the 
Diaries. 

The  author  of  a  biography  of  Windham  is  fortunately 
not  dependent  upon  printed  sources  for  his  material, 
for  there  are  at  his  disposal  some  ninety-four  volumes 
of  the  Windham  Papers,  acquired  by  purchase  in  1909 
by  the  British  Museum.  This  collection  is  of  extra- 
ordinary value,  for  it  is  not  only  a  mine  of  information 
concerning  Windham,  but  it  throws  light  upon  the  secret 
political  and  military  history  of  the  time.  The  corre- 
spondence covers  the  period  from  1783,  when  Windham 
entered  public  life,  until  his  death  seven-and-twenty 
years  later.  The  roll  of  Windham's  correspondents  include, 
besides  the  members  of  his  family  and  his  private  secretary, 
George  III.,  the  Dukes  of  York  and  Gloucester,  Fox, 
Pitt,  Burke,  Addington,  Canning,  Nelson,  the  Grenvilles, 
Dundas,  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Cobbett,  Sir  Arthur 
Wellesley,  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  Sir  John 
Coxe  Hippisley,  Lord  Grey,  Mrs.  Siddons,  Mrs.  Crewe, 
Hoppner,  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  Sheridan,  Johnson, 
Malone,  Hazlitt,  Dr.  Burney,  and  Dr.  Parr.  All  these 
papers  are  unpublished,  except  the  Burke-Windham 
correspondence,     which,     admirably     edited     by     Mr. 

»   Add.  MSS.  37907  f.  175. 


PREFACE  XXV 

J.  P.  Gilson,  Keeper  of  Manuscripts  at  the  British 
Museum,  was,  at  the  instance  of  the  Right  Hon. 
Arthur  James  Balfour,  privately  printed  two  years  ago 
for  the  Roxburghe  Club.  The  text  of  the  letters  has 
been  closely  followed,  except  that,  for  the  convenience 
of  the  reader,  abbreviations  have  been  printed  in  full, 
and,  as  a  rule,  the  spelling  of  proper  names  and  places 
has  been  standardised. 

The  value  of  the  Windham  Papers  is  considerable. 
Windham  it  was  who  had  the  courage  to  put  into  writing 
what  others  only  dared  to  whisper  about  the  utter  incom- 
petence of  the  Duke  of  York  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  in  Flanders.  His  correspondence  with  Pitt  on  this 
subject,  marked  "  Most  Private,"  here  printed  for  the 
first  time,  is  a  genuine  contribution  to  the  history  of  the 
war.  It  was  through  these  letters  that  George  IH.  first 
learnt  the  feeling  of  his  ministers  and  of  the  country  on 
this  matter,  and  it  must  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  the 
King  that  the  incident  in  no  degree  lessened  the  respect 
and  admiration  in  which  he  held  his  Secretary-at-War. 
It  was  to  Windham  that  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  wrote, 
marking  his  letter  "  Most  Secret,"  regarding  the  de- 
fences of  the  country  and  the  inefficiency  of  the  junior 
officers  of  the  army  and  miUtia.  In  this  same  interesting 
letter  he  urged  the  desirability  of  a  treaty  between 
that  Republic  and  Great  Britain,  whereby  the  maritime 
defence  of  the  United  States  should  be  undertaken  by 
Great  Britain  lest  the  States  themselves  should  set 
up  a  powerful  navy.  Other  correspondence  relates  to 
secret  ministerial  negotiations  between  the  political 
parties  at  home,  and  the  arrangements  between  the 
British  Government  and  the  French  Royalists.  A  very 
interesting  letter  is  that  written  by  a  French  emigre 
in  1793  from  Philadelphia. 

There  are  gaps  in  the  Windham  Papers,  but  the  informa- 
tion contained  therein  can  be  supplemented  from  many 


xxvi  PREFACE 

sources.  The  Pelham  Papers  include  letters  hitherto 
unpubhshed,  exchanged  between  Windham  and  Lord 
Northington  and  the  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham,  and  the  pri- 
vately printed  "  Miscellanies  "  of  the  Philobiblon  Society 
contain  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to  Mrs.  Crewe.  In 
the  Ketton  MSS.  (pubhshed  by  the  Historical  MSS. 
Commission)  will  be  found  interesting  extracts  from  a 
Diary  kept  by  Windham  in  1773  ;  while  in  the  Fortescue 
MSS.  (issued  under  the  same  auspices)  is  a  voluminous 
correspondence  with  Lord  Grenville.  Other  sources  that 
can  be  studied  with  advantage  are  Boswell's  "  Life  of 
Johnson,"  Fanny  Burney's  Diaries,  Wraxall's  "  Posthu- 
mous Memoirs,"  Stanhope's  "  Life  of  Pitt,"  Russell's 
''  Life  of  Fox;  "  Prior's  memoirs  of  Burke  and  Malone  ; 
the  biographies  of  Sidmouth,  Minto,  Charlemont,  Sheridan 
and  Reynolds ;  the  recollections  of  Lord  Albemarle,  Lord 
Malmesbury,  and  Lord  Holland  ;  the  correspondence  of 
Johnson  and  Burke  ;  the  "  Memoires  du  Comte  Joseph  de 
Puisaye  ";  and  Mrs.  StirHng's  "  Coke  of  Norfolk."  There 
is  also  an  interesting  character  study  of  Windham  by 
Brougham  in  "  Statesmen  of  the  Reign  of  George  III." 

"  Why  may  not  the  Life  of  Windham  be  written  by 
his  letters  ? "  asked  a  friend  of  the  statesman,  who 
disguised  his  identity  as  "An  Old  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment."! The  suggestion  is  sound,  and  this  plan  has 
been  followed  by  the  present  writer.  In  the  absence  of 
any  considerable  number  of  letters  written  by  or  to 
Windham  during  the  first  thirty-two  years  of  his  life, 
the  Editor  has  told  the  story  of  this  period  in  a  brief 
narrative. 

The  Editor's  thanks  are  due  to  the  Right  Hon.  the 
Marquis  of  Crewe,  K.G.,  who  has  kindly  allowed  him  to 
print  the  letters  from  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe,  which 
were  contributed  by  the  late  Lord  Houghton  to  the 
privately   printed    "  Miscellanies "    of    the    Philobiblon 

^  New  Monthly  Magazine,  December  1831,  vol.  xxxii,  p,  561. 


PREFACE  xxvii 

Society  ;  to  Earl  Nelson,  who  has  permitted  the  pubhca- 
tion  of  letters  of  Horatio,  Lord  Nelson ;  and  to  the 
Controller  of  his  Majesty's  Stationery  Office,  who  has 
sanctioned  the  insertion  of  some  correspondence  between 
Windham  and  Lord  Grenville  from  the  Fortescue  MSS. 
(Historical  MSS.  Commission's  Reports).  The  Editor 
wishes  further  to  thank  Messrs.  J.  P.  Collins,  C.  E. 
Lawrence,  A.  Francis  Steuart,  Thomas  H.  B.  Vade-Walpole, 
and  A.  Winterbotham,  who  have  kindly  read  the  proofs  of 
this  work,  and  have  made  many  valuable  suggestions. 
The  Rev.  T.  South  Jagg,  Rector  of  Felbrigge-cum- 
Melton,  has  been  so  good  as  to  supply  information  con- 
cerning Windham  at  Felbrigg. 


PAGE 


CONTENTS 

SECTION  I 

EARLY  LIFE.     17  50- 1782 

Family  history  :  Birth  of  William  Windham  :  Windham  at  Eton  : 
Fond  of  books  and  sports  :  Nicknamed  "  Fighting  Wind- 
ham "  :  His  interest  in  the  King  :  The  death  of  his  father  : 
His  guardians  :  Withdrawn  from  Eton  :  The  reason  for  this 
step  :  At  Glasgow  University  :  His  love  of  mathematics  : 
At  University  College,  Oxford  :  His  reputation  there  and 
academic  career  :  In  early  life  uninterested  in  pubhc  affairs  : 
Sets  out  on  a  voyage  of  exploration  in  the  Polar  Seas  :  Pre- 
vented by  sea-sickness  from  proceeding  :  He  is  landed  at 
Bergen  :  Extracts  from  his  Diary  concerning  his  sojourn  in 
Norway  :  Scanty  records  of  early  life  :  His  occupations  : 
First  plunge  into  political  life  :  A  letter  to  Sheridan  :  His 
maiden  speech  :  He  quells  a  Militia  mutiny  :  A  serious  illness  : 
He  goes  abroad  to  recover  strength  :  Invited  to  contest 
Norwich  as  a  supporter  of  the  Rockingham  party  :  Defeated 
at  the  election  of  1780  :  Invited  to  stand  for  Westminster  : 
The  formation  of  the  Rockingham  Administration  :  Corre- 
spondence :  The  death  of  Lord  Rockingham  :  Lord  Shelbume 
becomes  Prime  Minister  :  An  extract  from  Windham's  Diary 


SECTION  II 

CHIEF  SECRETARY  TO  THE   LORD-LIEUTENANT  OF 

IRELAND.     1783 

Lord  Northington  appointed  Lord -Lieutenant  of  Ireland  in  the 
Portland  Administration  :  Windham  accepts  office  of  Chief 
Secretary  to  the  Lord-Lieutenant  :  His  misgivings  as  to 
his  qualifications  :  Dr.  Johnson's  encouragement  :  Wind- 
ham accorded  a  hearty  welcome  in  Dublin  :  His  reputation 
in  1783  :  He  retires  in  August  :  The  reasons  for  his  retire- 
ment discussed  :  His  letter  notifying  Northington  of  his 
resignation  of  the  post  :  His  correspondence  with  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  and  the  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham  31 

xxix 


XXX  CONTENTS 

SECTION  III 

FIRST  YEARS  IN  PARLIAMENT.     1784-1793 
CHAPTER  I 


PAGE 


The  downfall  of  the  Coalition  Ministry  :  Pitt  Prime  Minister 
Windham  elected  M.P.  for  Norwich  :  A  regular  attendant  at 
the  Literary  Club  :  His  friendship  with  Dr.  Johnson  :  Some 
correspondence  between  them  :  Windham's  accounts  of  his 
last  interviews  with  Johnson  :  Johnson's  death  :  Windham 
invites  Fox  to  the  funeral :  The  political  pupil  of  Burke  :  Some 
of  Windham's  friends  :  Mrs.  Siddons  :  Windham's  interest 
in  aeronautics  :  His  ascent  in  a  balloon  with  Sadler  :  Fitz- 
patrick's  ascent  61 


CHAPTER  II 

1784-1792 

Windham's  early  speeches  :  His  attack  on  Warren  Hastings  in 
connection  with  the  Rohilla  war  :  Speaks  in  debate  on  the 
impeachment  of  Hastings  :  Wraxall's  appreciation  of  his 
powers  of  oratory  :  Appointed  a  manager  for  the  Commons 
of  Hastings'  trial  :  The  Pung's  illness  and  the  question  of  the 
Regency  :  The  commencement  of  the  French  Revolution  : 
Windham  opposes  Parliamentary  Reform  :  His  views  not 
entirely  in  accord  with  those  of  his  constituents  :  Doubtful  of 
the  safety  of  his  seat  :  Secures  re-election  1790  :  Extract  from 
Windham's  Diary  :  PubUcation  of  Burke's  "  Reflections  on 
the  French  Revolution  "  :  Rupture  between  Fox  and  Burke  ; 
Windham  angry  with  Burke  :  They  soon  become  reconciled  : 
A  letter  to  Mrs.  Crewe  :  His  attitude  towards  Parliamentary 
Reform  :  The  political  breach  between  Fox  and  Windham  : 
A  section  of  the  Opposition  supports  the  Government's  repres- 
sive measures  84 


CHAPTER  III 

^793 

A,  coaUtion  suggested  between  Pitt  and  the  Duke  of  Portland's 
party  :  Mudge's  chronometer  :  A  Frenchman  on  the  Revolu 
tion  and  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  United  States  :  Alexari'  icr 
Hamilton  :  General  Knox  :  Randolph  :  Jefiferson  :  Win  '...am's 
increasing  importance  :  Pitt  confers  with  him  :  Windham  on 
the  French  Revolution  :  On  the  Proclamation  for  the  sup- 
pression of  seditious  meetings  :  On  the  divergence  of  views 
between  Fox  and  Portland  :  Windham  for  a  while  acts  as  head 


CONTENTS  xxxi 

PAGE 

of  the  party  :  Fox  and  the  "  Friends  of  the  People  "  : 
Windham  comments  upon  his  lack  of  ambition  :  He  is  present 
at  the  siege  of  Valenciennes  :  The  surrender  of  that  town  : 
Ministerial  negotiations  :  Windham  anxious  not  to  take  office  : 
The  siege  of  Dunkirk  :  Toulon  :  Pitt  regrets  that  Windham 
is  disinclined  to  take  office:  The  execution  of  Marie  Antoinette: 
The  siege  of  Mauberge  :  Burke  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  : 
Windham  supports  the  continuance  of  the  war  :  La  Vendee  : 
A  conference  between  Pitt  and  Lord  Spencer  :  Windham  and 
his  architect,  James  Wyatt  :  Burke  and  Spencer  on  the 
situation  :  Spencer  and  Windham  in  favour  of  continuing  the 
war  :  Lord  Malmesbury's  mission  to  the  King  of  Prussia  : 
The  French  Princes  :  Toulon  regained  by  the  French  no 


SECTION  IV 

SECRETARY-AT-WAR   IN   THE   PITT   ADMINISTRATION, 

1 794-1801 

CHAPTER  I 

1794 

The  state  of  parties  :  Windham's  position  among  the  leaders  of 
the  Opposition  :  His  personal  charm  :  His  merits  and  defects 
as  a  speaker  :  The  Duke  of  Portland  clearly  defines  his 
position  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  :  His  reluctance  to 
accept  office  under  Pitt  :  The  Norfolk  Militia  :  The  Emigrant 
Bill  :  Martinico  :  The  acquittal  of  Warren  Hastings  :  The 
managers  of  the  trial  thanked  by  the  House  of  Commons  : 
The  retirement  of  Burke  from  the  Parliament  :  He  is  granted 
a  pension  :  His  wish  for  a  peerage  :  The  coalition  of  the  Port- 
land party  with  the  Government  :  The  Duke,  Lord  Spencer, 
and  Lord  Fitzwilliam  accept  office  :  Windham  becomes  Secre- 
tary-at-War  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  :  Irish  affairs  :  Lord 
Spencer's  mission  to  Vienna  :  Sir  Sidney  Smith's  plan  of 
attack  on  the  French  fleet  :  His  dissatisfaction  with  the  treat- 
ment he  has  received  at  the  hand  of  his  country  :  The  Prince 
of  Coburg  resigns  the  command  of  the  Austrian  army  :  He  is 
succeeded  by  General  Clerfayt  :  The  loss  of  Valenciennes  and 
Conde  :  Windham  goes  abroad,  and  stays  at  the  head-quarters 
of  the  English  army  :  The  operations  on  the  Scheldt  :  Wind- 
ham, in  a  private  letter  to  Pitt,  recommends  the  removal  of 
the  Duke  of  York  from  the  command  of  the  British  army 
abroad  :  The  delicacy  of  the  position  :  Pitt's  embarrassment  : 
The  controversy  concerning  the  appointment  of  Lord  Fitz- 
william to  the  viceroyalty  of  Ireland  :  The  Duke  of  Portland 
and  his  friends  threaten  to  resign  :  Pitt  at  last  consents  to 
make  the  appointment  197 


xxxii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  II 

1795 

PAGE 

Windham's  belief  that  a  Royalist  force  should  be  organised 
against  the  Republicans  :  The  negotiations  entrusted  to  him 
by  the  Cabinet  :  Quiberon  Bay  expedition  :  Correspondence 
with  Lord  Grenville  :  The  Duke  of  York  gazetted  Field- 
Marshal  :  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  as  Lord -Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
acts  in  defiance  of  his  instructions  :  He  is  recalled  by  the 
Ministry  :  And  is  succeeded  by  Lord  Camden  :  The  state  of 
Corsica  :  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  appointed  Governor  :  Paoli  :  Lord 
Hood  :  Sir  Hyde  Parker  :  Joseph  Gerrald  :  Dr.  Parr's  plea  for 
him  :  The  Prince  of  Wales's  debts  :  Burke  suggests  a  remedy 
for  the  future  :  England  and  the  French  Royalists  :  The 
Treasonable  Practices  Bill  :  Correspondence  with  Malone, 
Mrs.  Crewe,  Lord  Grenville,  and  others  280 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

The  Rt.  Hon.  William  Windham  (Photogravure)  Frontispiece 
From  a  painting  by  J.  Hoppner,  in  St.  Andrew's  Hall,  Norwich 

Felbrigg  Hall  (1779)  18 

From  a  print  in  the  Norwich  Public  Library 

Frederick  North,  Second  Earl  of  Guilford  40 

Engraved  by  T.  Burke  from  a  painting  by  N.  Dance 

Dr.  Johnson  64 

Engraved  by  W.  Doughty,  from  a  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

Sarah  Siddons  72 

From  a  painting  by  Sir  William  Beechey 

Fanny  Burney  86 

Engraved  by  S.  Bull,  from  a  painting  by  E.  Burney 

Mrs.  Bouverie  and  Mrs.  Crewe  96 

Engraved  by  I.  Marchi,  from  a  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

Lady  Hamilton  98 

Engraved  by  Wm.  Say,  from  a  painting  by  J.  J.  Masquerier 

William  Pitt  ho 

Engraved  by  G.  Clint,  from  a  painting  by  J.  Hoppner 

Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  First  Earl  of  Minto  140 

Engraved  by  W.  G.  Edwards,  from  a  painting  by  G.  Chinnery 

George  John,  Earl  Spencer  152 

Engraved  by  H.  Meyer,  from  a  drawing  by  J.  Wright,  after  a  painting  by 
1.   Hoppner 

Edmund  Malone  162 

From  a  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

Edmund  Burke  174 

Engraved  b    J.  Hardy,  from  a  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

Dr.  Charles  Burney  220 

X  xxxiii  c 


xxxiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO   FACE    PAGE 

The  Duke  of  York  238 

Engraved  by  H.  Dawe 

Dr.  Samuel  Parr  296 

Engraved  by  H.  Meyer,  from  a  painting  by  Hargrave 

Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  316 

Engraved  by  W.  T.  Haywood,  from  a  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF 
EVENTS,  1778-1810 

1778 

February  6.  Treaty  of  Paris  between  France  and  America,  recog- 
nising the  independence  of  the  United  States. 

February  17.  Appointment  of  British  Commissioners  to  treat  with 
the  Americans. 

May  II.  Death  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham. 

June  18.  British  troops  evacuate  Philadelphia. 

1779 
June  16.  Spain  declares  war  against  England. 

August.  Gibraltar  besieged. 

1780 
January  16.        Rodney  relieves  Gibraltar. 
May  12.  Charleston  taken  by  the  British. 

June  2.  Gordon  riots. 

August  15.  Cornwallis  defeats  General  Gates. 

Projected  French  invasion  of  England. 

Formation  of  "  The  Armed  Neutrality  "  against  the 
British  claim  of  right  of  maritime  search. 

1781 
Prussia  joins  the  Armed  Neutrality. 
August  5.  Naval  battle  between  the  British  and  Dutch  off  the 

Dogger  Bank. 
October.  Cornwallis  capitulates  at  Yorktown. 

1782 
February  27.       Resignation  of  Lord  North's  ministry. 
March  30.  Formation  of  Lord  Rockingham's  administration. 

April.  Grattan's  Declaration  of  Right. 

April  12.  Rodney's  victory  in  the  West  Indies. 

July  I .  Death  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham. 

July  10.  Formation  of  the  Shelburne  Administration. 

September.  Howe  relieves  Gibraltar. 

November  30.      Preliminaries  of  Peace  accepted  by  Great  Britain  and 

America. 
December  5.        George    IIL    acknowledges  the   Independence  of    the 

United  States. 

XXXV 


xxxvi    CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS 


1783 

February.  Siege  of  Gibraltar  raised. 

April  5.  Formation  of  the  Coalition  Ministry. 

November  30.      Peace  of  Versailles. 

December  17.      Fox's  East  India  Bill  rejected  by  the  Lords. 

Downfall  of  the  Coalition  Ministry. 
December  22.      Formation  of  the  Pitt  Administration. 


March  25. 


1784 
Convention  of  Constantinople. 
General  Election  in  Great  Britain. 


1785 
February.  Return  of  Warren  Hastings  to  England. 

June  I.  Adams,  the  first  United    States  Minister,  received  at 

St  James's. 

1786 
February  17.      Articles  of    Impeachment  against  Hastings  exhibited 

by  Burke. 
August  17.         Death  of  Frederick  the  Great.     Accession  of  Frederick 

William  II. 
September.  Commercial  Treaty  between  England  and  France. 

1787 
February  7.  Impeachment  of  Hastings  agreed  to  by  the  House  of 

Commons. 
Prince  of  Wales's  debts  paid  by  Parliament. 
May  13.  First  convict  fleet  sails  from  England  for  Botany  Bay 

1788 

February  13.  Impeachment  of  Hastings  before  the  House  of  Lords. 

April  15.  Treaty  between  England  and  Holland. 

November.  The  King's  illness  announced. 

December.  Regency  debates  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

1789 

February  5.         Pitt's  plan  for  a  restricted  regency. 

February  19.       Regency  Bill  abandoned  owing  to  King's  recovery. 

A  pril  30.  Washington  elected  first  President  of  the  United  States. 

June  17.  The    States-General     proclaims    itself     the    National 

Assembly. 
July  14.  Destruction  of  the  Bastille. 


1790 

February.  Burke  and  "  the  Alarmists  "  attack  the  French  Revo- 

lution in  the  House  of  Commons. 

November.  Burke  publishes  "  Reflections   on    the   French   Revo- 

lution." 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS   xxxvii 


1791 

March.  Paine  publishes  "  The  Rights  of  Man." 

September  3.        French  Constitution  voted. 

October  i.  The  Legislative  Assembly  sits  at  Paris. 

1792 
May.  Grey's  measure  of  Parliamentary  Reform  introduced. 

May  2 1 .  Proclamation  against  seditious  writings  and  irregular 

meetings. 
August  10.  Louis  XVI.  taken  prisoner. 

September  20.     The  battle  of  Valmy. 


January  21. 
February  1 1 . 
March  1 1 . 
March  14. 
March  18. 
Apnl  5. 
July  13. 
August  8. 
August  28. 
October  16. 
November  12. 
November  22. 
December  18. 
December  26. 


1793 
Louis  XVI.  executed. 

Great  Britain  declares  war  against  France. 
Revolutionary  Tribunal  established  at  Paris. 
Revolt  in  La  Vendee. 
Dumouriez  defeated  at  Neerwinden. 
Dumouriez  deserts  to  the  Austrians. 
Assassination  of  Marat. 
Valenciennes  captured  by  the  Allies. 
Hood  occupies  Toulon. 
Marie  Antoinette  executed. 
Philippe  Egalite  executed. 
Commercial  Treaty  with  the  United  States. 
Toulon  evacuated  by  the  Allies. 
Wurmser  defeated  at  Weissenburg. 


April  5. 
July. 

July  28. 
August  30. 
December. 

December  27. 


1794 
Danton  executed. 
The  Duke  of  Portland,  Lord  Spencer,  Lord  Fitzwilliam, 

and  Windham  join  the  Pitt  Administration. 
Robespierre,  St.  Just,  and  others  executed. 
Valenciennes  and  Conde  recaptured  by  the  French. 
The  Duke  of  York  removed  from  the  command  of  the 

British  Forces  in  Flanders. 
Pichegru  invades  Holland. 


1795 

February.  Surrender  of  Ceylon  by  the  Dutch  to  Great  Britain. 

April  14.  British  Army  evacuates  Holland. 

April  23.  Acquittal  of  Warren  Hastings. 

May  16.  Holland  makes  terms  with  the  French 

June  27.  Royalist  expedition  to  Quiberon. 

July  22.  France  makes  peace  with  Spain. 

September.  British  occupation  of  Cape  Colony 

October.  Convention  dissolved. 

October  29.  Clerfait  victorious  on  the  Rhine. 

November  3  Directory  installed. 

November  The  Treasonable  Practices  Bill. 


xxxviii  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS 

1796 

April.  Napoleon  invades  Italy. 

La  Hoche's  expedition  to  Ireland. 
August  19.  Treaty  of  San  Ildefonso. 

October  1 1 .  Great  Britain  declares  war  against  France. 

October  22.  Lord  Malmesbury's  peace  mission  to  Paris. 

December.  Return  of  Lord  Malmesbury. 

1797 

February  14.  Battle  of  Cape  St.  Vincent. 

April  16.  Mutiny  at  Spithead. 

May  2.  Mutiny  at  the  Nore. 

July  9.  Death  of  Edmund  Burke. 

October  11.  Battle  of  Camperdown. 

October  ij.  Peace  of  Campo-Formio. 


February  10. 
March  5. 
March  29. 
May. 
May. 
June  12. 
July  2 1 . 
August  I. 
August  22. 
September  8. 


March  7. 
March  19. 
May  20. 
July  25. 
August. 
August  22. 
September  19. 
December  13. 


1798 

Berthier  enters  Rome. 

Battle  of  Berne. 

Helvetic  Republic  proclaimed. 

Napoleon's  expedition  to  Egypt. 

Irish  rebelUon. 

Malta  surrenders  to  the  French. 

Battle  of  the  Pyramids. 

Battle  of  the  Nile. 

French  land  in  Ireland. 

French  in  Ireland  surrender. 

1799 
Jaffa  occupied  by  the  French. 
Acre  besieged  by  the  French. 
The  siege  of  Acre  raised. 
Battle  of  Aboukir. 

Duke  of  York's  expedition  to  Holland. 
Napoleon  leaves  Egypt. 
Battle  of  Bergen. 
Napoleon  chosen  First  Consul. 


1800 

January  24.  Treaty  of  El  Arish. 

June  14.  Battle  of  Marengo. 

July  2.  Act  of  Union  with  Ireland  passed. 

September  5.  Malta  surrenders  to  the  English. 

December  3.  Battle  of  Hohenlinden. 

December  14.  Battle  of  Salzburg. 

1801 
January  i.  Act  of  Union   between    England   and    Ireland   comes 

into  force. 
February  1 6.       Pitt  resigns  office. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS    xxxix 


March  17. 
Mavch  21. 
March  28. 
April  2. 
A  ugust. 
October  i. 


March. 
May. 


Addington  becomes  Prime  Minister. 

Battle  of  Alexandria. 

Treaty  of  Naples. 

Battle  of  Copenhagen. 

French  Army  in  Egypt  capitulates. 

Preliminaries  of  Peace  between  France  and  England 


signed. 


1802 


Peace  of  Amiens. 

Napoleon  appointed  First  Consul  for  life. 


May  16. 

June  5. 
July  23. 


1803 
War  declared  between  England  and  France. 
French  occupy  Hanover. 
Emmett's  insurrection  in  Ireland. 


1804 

March  16.  Execution  of  the  Due  d'Enghein. 

May.  Addington  resigns  office. 

May  12.  Pitt  becomes  Prime  Minister. 

May  18.  Napoleon  proclaimed  Emperor  of  the  French. 

December  2.         The  Pope  crowns  Napoleon  at  Notre  Dame. 
Spain  declares  war  against  Great  Britain. 

1805 

April.  Treaty  of  St.  Petersburg  (Great  Britain  and  Russia). 

May  26.  Napoleon  crowned  King  of  Italy  at  Milan. 

July.  Battle  of  Cape  Finisterre. 

October  8.  Treaty  of  Naples. 

October  17.  Capitulation  of  Ulm. 

October  21.  Battle  of  Trafalgar. 

November.  Napoleon  enters  Vienna. 

December  2.  Battle  of  Austerlitz. 

December  15.  Treaty  of  Vienna  (France  and  Prussia). 

December  26.  Peace  of  Pressburg  (France  and  Austria). 


1806 

January  9.  Public  funeral  of  Nelson. 

January  12.  Vienna  evacuated  by  the  French. 

January  23.  Death  of  Pitt. 

February  5.  Grenville-Fox     Administration     ("  All  the  Talents  ") 

formed. 

February  15.  Joseph  Bonaparte    proclaimed   King   of   Naples  and 

Sicily. 

July.  Battle  of  Maida. 

July.  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  constituted. 

August  18.  Jerome  Bonaparte  proclaimed  King  of  Westphalia. 

September  13.  Death  of  Charles  James  Fox. 

October  14.  Battles  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt. 

0ctober2$.  Napoleon  enters  Berlin. 


xl   CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  EVENTS 

November  8.  Capitulation  of  Magdeburg. 

November  20.  Napoleon's  Berlin  Decrees. 

November  28.  The  French  enter  Warsaw. 

December  26.  Battle  of  Pultusk. 

1807. 

January  7.  British  "  Orders  in  Council." 

February  7.  Battle  of  Eylau. 

March.  Formation  of  the  Portland  administration. 

March  25.  Slavery  abolished  in  the  British  dominions. 

April.  Convention    of    Bastenstein    (Russia,     Prussia,     and 

Sweden). 

June  10.  Battle  of  Heilsburg. 

June  14.  Battle  of  Friedland. 

July  7.  Treaty  of  Tilsit  (France  and  Russia). 

September  5.  Danish  Fleet  at  Copenhagen  surrenders  to  the  British 

October.  Treaty  of  Fontainebleau  (France  and  Spain). 

1808 

May.  Joseph  Bonaparte  becomes  King  of  Spain. 

June  15.  Siege  of  Saragossa. 

August  17.  Battle  of  Rolica. 

August  21.  Battle  of  Vimiera. 

August  30.  Convention  of  Cintra. 

September.  Convention  of  Paris. 

October.  Convention  of  Erfurt. 

1809 

January.  Treaty  of  the  Dardanelles  (England  and  Turkey). 

January  16.  Battle  of  Coruna. 

February  21.  Capitulation  of  Saragossa. 

April  20.  Battle  of  Abensberg. 

May  12.  Napoleon  enters  Vienna. 

May  2 1 .  Battle  of  Aspern. 

July  12.  Battle  of  Wagram. 

July  28.  Battle  of  Talavera. 
July  to 

November.  Walcheren  expedition. 

October  24.  Peace  of  Schonnbrimn  (France  and  Austria). 

October  30.  Death  of  the  Duke  of  Portland. 

November.  Perceval  forms  an  Administration. 

1810 

January.  Treaty  of  Paris  (France  and  Sweden). 

July.  Napoleon  annexes  Holland. 

September  27.  Battle  of  Busaco. 

October  29.  Wellington  secures  the  lines  in  Torres  Vedras. 


SECTION  I 
EARLY  LIFE.      1750-1782 


SECTION   I 
EARLY   LIFE.     1750-1782 

Family  history  :  Birth  of  William  Windham  :  Windham  at 
Eton  :  Fond  of  books  and  sports  :  Nicknamed  "  Fighting 
Windham  "  :  His  interest  in  the  King  :  The  death  of  his  father  : 
His  guardians  :  Withdrawn  from  Eton  :  The  reason  for  this 
step  :  At  Glasgow  University  :  His  love  of  mathematics  : 
At  University  College,  Oxford  :  His  reputation  there  and 
academic  career  :  In  early  life  uninterested  in  public  affairs  : 
Sets  out  on  a  voyage  of  exploration  in  the  Polar  Seas  :  Pre- 
vented by  sea-sickness  from  proceeding  :  He  is  landed  at 
Bergen  :  Extracts  from  his  Diary  concerning  his  sojourn  in 
Norway  :  Scanty  records  of  early  life  :  His  occupations  : 
First  plunge  into  political  life  :  A  letter  to  Sheridan  :  His 
maiden  speech  :  He  quells  a  Militia  mutiny  :  A  serious  illness  : 
He  goes  abroad  to  recover  strength  :  Invited  to  contest 
Norwich  as  a  supporter  of  the  Rockingham  party  :  Defeated 
at  the  election  of  1780  :  Invited  to  stand  for  Westminster  : 
The  formation  of  the  Rockingham  Administration  :  Corre- 
spondence :  The  death  of  Lord  Rockingham  :  Lord  Shelburne 
becomes  Prime  Minister  :  An  extract  from  Windham's  Diary. 

THE  Right  Hon.  William  Windham  came  of  an 
old  Norfolk  family,  which  had  acquired 
from  William  Hales  in  1436  the  manor  of 
Crownethorpe,  in  the  parish  of  Wymond- 
ham.  From  this  parish  (pronounced  "  Wind'-am  ")  the 
family  derived  its  surname.  In  1460  John  Wymondham 
purchased  from  Sir  John  Felbrigg  the  manor  of  Felbrigg, 
near  Cromer,  and  this  became  the  chief  seat  of  the 
family.  John  was  knighted  in  1487  on  the  battlefield 
of  Stoke.  Sixteen  years  later,  for  being  associated 
with  the  Earl  of  Suffolk  in  a  conspiracy  against  Henry 
VII.,  he  was  tried  for  high  treason,  found  guilty,  and 

3 


4  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

beheaded  on  Tower  Hill.     Sir  John  married  Margaret, 
fourth   daughter   of   John   Howard,   Duke   of   Norfolk, 
and  by  her  had  a  son   (afterwards  Sir)  Thomas,  who 
entered    the    Navy    and    attained    the    rank    of    Vice- 
Admiral .     Sir  Thomas  married  Eleanor,  daughter  of  Sir 
Richard  Scrope,  of  Upsal,  Wiltshire,  who  bore  him  a  large 
family.     Of  his  eldest  son  and  successor.  Sir  Edmund,  it 
is  recorded  that  being  condemned  by  James  I,  to  lose  his 
right  hand  for  striking  a  Mr.  Cleer  in  the  royal  tennis 
court,  he  prayed  that  he  might  rather  lose  his  left  hand, 
for  with  the  right,  he  said,  "  I  may  do  ye  King  gode  ser- 
vice," whereupon  he  was  pardoned.     Edmund's  eldest  son 
Francis   died  without  issue,  and  the  estate  then  passed 
to  the  second  son.  Sir  John,  who  had  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  John  Sydenham,  of  Orchard,  in  Somerset- 
shire, in  which  county  he  had  settled.     During  the  Civil 
War,  his  sons  fought  for  the  King,  and  after  the  battle 
of    Worcester,    Colonel    Francis    Windham,    Sir    John's 
fourth  son,  conducted  Charles  11.  to  his  seat  at  Trent. 
The  eldest  son,  Thomas,  came  into  possession  of  the 
property  on  his  father's  death,  and  survived  until  1653, 
when  he  had  reached  the  patriarchal  age  of  fourscore 
years  and  two.      Thomas,  who  married  a  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Lytton  of  Kneb worth,  was  succeeded  by  his 
second    son   William,   whose   history  is    thus    recorded 
on    a    monumental    brass    in    the    parish    church    of 
Felbrigg  : 

In  a  vault  near  to  this  monument  lieth  the  Body  of 
William  Windham,  Esq'.,  second  son  of  Thomas  Wind- 
ham of  Felbrigg  in  the  County  of  Norfolk  Esq',  by  Eliza- 
beth his  second  wife.  He  married  Katharine,  Eldest  d"". 
of  S''  Joseph  Ashe  of  Twittenham,  in  the  C^  of  Middlesex 
Bart,  with  whom  he  lived  twenty  years,  and  had  issue 


1782]         COLONEL  WILLIAM  WINDHAM  5 

eight  sons;  Ashe,  William,  Thomas,  John,  Thomas,  John, 
Joseph  and  James,  and  three  daughters  Katharine; 
Mary  and  Elizabeth.  The  eldest  Thomas  and  two  Johns 
dyed  Infants.  All  the  rest  survived  him.  He  departed  this 
life  the  ninth  of  June  1689  ^^  the  42"'^  year  of  his  age. 

In  the  same  vault  lieth  ye  Body  of  Katharine  Windham 
Relict  of  Will".  Windham  Esq^  who  departed  this  life 
the  24*''  day  of  Dec''.  1729,  In  the  78*''  year  of  her  Age. 

M'*.  Mary  Windham  died  June  29*''  1747,  aged  71,  and 
was  buried  at  St.  Edmund's  Bury,  in  Suffolk. 

Ashe  Windham,  who  was  born  in  1672  and  survived 
until  1749,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William 
Dobyns,  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  By  her  in  1717  he  had 
an  only  son,  William,  who  early  in  life  quarrelled 
with  his  father,  and  thereafter  spent  many  years  abroad. 
He  lived  for  some  years  in  Spain,  and  in  1741  travelled 
with  Richard  Pocock  in  Switzerland,  subsequently 
writing  one  of  the  first  published  accounts  of  Chamonix 
and  Mont  Blanc.  Later  he  went  to  Hungary,  where 
he  served  as  an  officer  in  one  of  Queen  Maria  Theresa's 
hussar  regiments.  At  his  father's  request  he  eventually 
returned  to  England,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  military  subjects.  After  Pitt  had  passed  the 
National  Militia  Act  of  1757,  he,  in  conjunction  with 
Lord  Townshend,^  formed  a  corps  in  his  own  county, 
of  which,  in  recognition  of  his  services,  he  was 
appointed  Lieutenant-Colonel.  He  interested  himself  in 
his  duties,  and  drew  up  a  "  Plan  of  Discipline  com- 
posed for  the  use  of  the  Militia  of  the  County  of  Nor- 
folk," which  was  highly  praised  by  the  authorities  and 
generally  adopted  throughout  the  country.  He  was  a 
patron  of  all  manl}'^  exercises,  and  to  the  end  of  his  days 

*  Charles  Townshend,  third  Viscount  Townshend  (1700-1764). 


6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

followed  the  hounds.  He  was  a  good  classical  scholar, 
a  fine  linguist,  and  that  he  had  agreeable  social  qualities 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  he  was  intimate  with  David 
Garrick  and  many  of  the  London  wits,  who  visited  him 
frequently  at  Felbrigg.  He  married  a  noted  beauty, 
Sarah  Hicks,  widow  of  Robert  Lukin,  of  Dunmow, 
Essex,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  William,  the  subject  of 
this  memoir. 

William  Windham  was  born  on  May  3,  1750,  at  No.  6 
Golden  Square,  Soho,  London.  At  seven  years  of  age 
he  was  sent  to  Eton,  where,  among  his  contemporaries 
was  Charles  James  Fox.  Dr.  Barnard,  the  Headmaster, 
stated,  when  the  lads  had  become  distinguished  men,  that 
they  were  the  last  two  boys  he  flogged.  Their  offence 
was  rank  :  they  had  gone  into  Windsor  without  leave 
and  attended  a  performance  at  the  theatre.  All  accounts 
concur  in  declaring  that  at  school  W^indham  was  con- 
spicuous for  vivacity  and  brilliance  and  for  the  ease  with 
which  he  acquired  knowledge.  Not  only  in  scholastic 
attainments  was  he  successful  beyond  most  of  his  fellows, 
but  he  was  as  prominent  in  sport  as  in  the  class-room.  A 
sound  cricketer,  a  skilful  oarsman,  and  so  useful,  too, 
with  his  fists  that  he  was  known  at  Eton  as  "  Fighting 
Windham."  . 

This  nickname  long  clung  to  Windham,  for  he  dearly 
loved  a  fight.  On  one  occasion  he  was  grateful  that  he 
had  learnt  the  use  of  his  fists.  After  his  re-election  at 
Norwich  in  July  1794,  he  was  being  chaired,^  when  a 
rufiian  in  the  crowd  threw  a  stone  at  his  head.     Like 

^  "  The  chairing  in  Norfolk  differed  from  that  of  other  counties. 
A  chair  of  state,  gaudily  decorated,  placed  on  a  platform  and  sup- 
ported by  poles,  was  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  four-and -twenty 
stalwart  men.  By  the  side  of  this  chair  the  member  elect  took  his 
stand,  and  in  this  manner  was  carried  through  the  principal  streets  of 


1782]      WINDHAM  AND  THE  PRIZE  RING  7 

the  Admirable  Crichton  he  was,  he  caught  the  missile  in 
his  hand,  jumped  off  his  moving  platform,  and  thrashed 
the  coward  within  an  inch  of  his  life.  In  a  few  minutes 
he  was  again  hoisted  and  continued  his  triumphal  pro- 
gress, bowing  on  all  sides  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
When  Windham  could  no  longer  fight  it  pleased  him  to 
watch  others,  and  to  the  end  of  his  days  he  was  a  patron 
of  the  Ring.  In  his  Diary  he  noted  some  of  the  combats 
he  witnessed  : — 

May  2,  1786.  The  circumstances  of  the  fight,  which 
was  the  object  of  our  excursion  (to  Newmarket),  need 
not  be  recorded.  The  winner's  name  was  Humphries 
(Richard,  I  think)  ;  and  the  butcher's  Sam  Martin.  .  .  . 
TJie  spectacle  was  upon  the  whole  very  interesting,  by  the 
qualities,  both  of  mind  and  body,  which  it  exhibited. 
Nothing  could  afford  a  finer  display  of  character  than  the 
conduct  and  demeanour  of  Humphries,  and  the  skill  dis- 
covered far  exceeded  what  I  had  conceived  the  art  to 
possess.  The  mischief  done  could  not  have  affected  the 
most  tender  humanity. 

June  9,  1788.  I  had  been  that  morning  with  Fullerton 
and  Palmer  to  Croydon,  to  a  boxing  match.  .  .  .  The 
boxing  match  was,  in  consequence  of  a  purse  collected 
by  subscription,  under  the  direction  of  H[ervey]  Aston, 
G[eorge]  Hanger, ^  &c.  The  combatants,  Fewtrill  and 
Jackson,  both  of  them  large  ;  one  of  them,  Jackson,  a 
man  of  uncommon  strength  and  activity,  but  neither  of 
them  of  any  skill,  or  likely,  so  far  as  appeared  upon  that 
occasion,  ever  to  become  distinguished.     The  fight,  which 

Norwich.  At  intervals,  the  bearers  made  a  halt,  and  by  a  simultaneous 
action  tossed  their  burden  so  high  as  to  give  him  occasional  peeps  into 
garret  windows.  When  William  Windham,  the  statesman  .  .  .  was 
elected  for  Norwich  he  underwent  a  like  ordeal." — Albemarle,  "  Fifty 
Years  of  my  Life,"  ii.  296. 

^  George  Hanger  (1751-1824),  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  succeeded  his  brother  as  (fourth)  Baron  Coleraine,  18 14. 


8  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

lasted  an  hour  and  ten  minutes,  was  wholly  uninteresting, 
it  being  evident  from  the  beginning  which  was  to  prevail, 
and  no  powers  or  qualities  being  displayed  to  make  the 
prevalence  of  one  or  the  other  a  matter  of  anxiety.  The 
fight  which  succeeded  this  between  Crabbe,  a  Jew,  and 
Watson,  a  butcher,  from  Bristol,  under  21,  was  of  a 
different  character  ;  so  much  skill,  activity,  and  fine 
make,  my  experience  in  these  matters  has  not  shown  me. 
After  a  most  active  fight  of  forty  minutes  the  Jew  was 
very  fairly  beat.  There  was  also  another  fight,  between 
a  butcher  and  a  spring  maker,  neither  of  them  large,  but 
one  of  them,  the  butcher,  a  muscular  man,  which 
though  smart  enough  for  the  time,  ended  soon  by 
what  seemed  a  shabby  surrender  on  the  part  of  the 
spring  maker ;  his  plea  was  having  sprained  both 
his  thumbs,  or,  as  he  called  it,  but  not  truly,  ac- 
cording to  their  appearance  to  me  afterwards,  put 
them  out. 

In  February  1789  Windham  went  with  Crewe, ^  Fitz- 
patrick,2  Grey,^  and  George  Cholmondeley  ^  to  Rickmans- 
worth  to  see  a  contest  between  Johnson  and  Ryan,  and  on 
July  6  of  the  same  year  drove  to  Wimbledon  to  watch 
matches  between  Darch  and  Gainer,  James  and  Tucker, 

1  John  Crewe  (i 742-1 829),  afterwards  Baron  Crewe  of  Crewe,  who 
had  married  in  1766  the  beautiful  Frances  Anne  Greville. 

2  Richard  Fitzpatrick  (1747-18 13),  second  son  of  John,  Earl  of 
Upper  Ossory  ;  the  friend  of  Fox;  Colonel,  1778;  General,  1793  ; 
Secretary -at-War  in  the  Coalition  and  All  the  Talents  Ministries. 

3  Charles  Grey  (1764- 184  5),  afterwards  second  Earl  Grey  ;  Prime 
Minister,  183 1-4. 

4  George  James  Cholmondeley  (1752-1830)  was  the  son  of  the  Hon. 
and  Rev.  Robert  Cholmondeley,  Rector  of  St  Andrews,  Hertford 
(the  second  son  of  George,  third  Earl  of  Cholmondeley),  by  his  wife 
Mary  Woffington,  the  sister  of  the  famous  actress.  He  married  three 
times  :  ist,  1790,  Maria,  daughter  of  John  Pitt,  who  died  1808  ;  2nd, 
1 8 14,  Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir  Philip  Francis,  who  died  1823  ;  and, 
3rd,  1825,  the  Hon.  Mary  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Thomas,  Viscount 
Sydney,  who  survived  him.  Cholmondeley  became  Receiver-General 
of  Excise. 


1782]  AT  ETON  9 

Hooper  and  Tyne.  The  last  battles  he  witnessed  were  at 
Moulsey  in  October  1808  between  Gregson  and  Tom  Cribb, 
the  champion  ;  Cropley  and  Tom  Belcher  ;  and  Powell 
and  Dogherty.  He  believed  in  prize  fights,  and  on  August 
6,  1788,  hurried  to  London  to  write  an  article,  "  to  take 
off,  as  far  as  one  could,  the  effect  of  the  accident  at 
Brighton,  of  the  death  of  a  man  in  a  boxing  match,"  which 
had  resulted  in  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was  present, 
announcing  that  he  would  never  again  attend  any 
pugilistic  encounter. 

In  1761  Colonel  Windham  died,  and  left  his  son  in  the 
guardianship  of  Benjamin  Stillingfleet,^  Dr.  Dampier,^ 
David  Garrick,  and  a  Mr.  Price  of  Hereford.^  For  five 
years  after  his  bereavement  the  boy  remained  at  Eton, 
and  then  was  suddenly  withdrawn. 

Dr.  Dampier  to  Mrs.  Windham 

March  7,  1766 
There  have  been  great  disturbances  amongst  the  boys 
here,  and  I  am  sorry  that  your  son  is  accused  of  having  a 
large  concern  in  them.  In  order  therefore  to  cover  his 
retreat  and  to  prevent  a  publick  expulsion,  which  would 
probably  be  the  consequence  of  his  longer  stay ,  I  shall  see 
him  home  to  you  tomorrow  morning.  When  I  am  in 
town,  about  a  fortnight  hence,  we  must  meet  and  consider 
how  to  dispose  of  him.  If  I  may  advise  I  would  not  have 
you  mention  to  any  one  the  cause  of  his  coming  home  so 
soon  before  the  holidays.^ 

*  Benjamin  Stillingfleet  (1702-1771),  naturalist.  One  account  says 
Stillingfleet  did  not  act  as  a  guardian,  but  the  writer  of  the  article  on 
Stillingfleet  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  "  does  not 
accept  this  statement. 

2  Dr.  Dampier,  an  under-master  at  Eton,  and  from  1774  Dean  of 
Durham,  the  father  of  Dr.  Thomas  Dampier,  Bishop  of  Ely.  The 
elder  Dampier  had  been  Colonel  Windham's  tutor. 

3  (?)  Robert  Price,  the  friend  of  Stillingfleet,  who  died  in  1761. 

*  KettonMSS. 


10  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

In  the  summer  of  1766  Windham  was  sent  to  Glasgow 
to  attend  the  classes  at  the  University.  There  he  studied 
under  Dr.  Anderson,  the  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
and  Robert  Simson,  the  mathematician.  It  was  Simson 
who  imbued  him  with  a  taste  for  this  science,  one  which 
fascinated  him  then  and  continued  to  do  so  through 
his  life.  In  his  Diaries  are  numerous  references  to  the 
work  he  did  and  the  books  he  read  on  the  subject.  At  his 
death  he  left  three  treatises  on  mathematical  themes, 
which  his  will  directed  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
Dr.  Horsley,^  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  with  the  suggestion 
that  if  they  were  of  any  value  they  should  be  published. 
Horsley,  however,  predeceased  Windham,  and  the  works 
passed  into  the  hands  of  George  Ellis,  who  contented 
himself  with  extracting  certain  Notes  from  them.^  It  may 
therefore  be  presumed  that,  at  least  in  his  opinion,  the 
treatises  were  not  worthy  of  being  presented  to  the 
public. 

From  Glasgow  Windham  went  to  Oxford,  where  he  was 
entered  in  September  1767  as  a  gentleman-commoner  at 
University  College.  His  tutor  was  Robert  Chambers, 
and  Malone  has  put  it  on  record  that  during  the  young 
man's  academic  career  "  he  was  highly  distinguished 
for  his  application  to  various  studies,  for  his  love  of 
enterprise,  for  that  frank  and  graceful  address,  and  that 
honourable  deportment,  which  gave  a  lustre  to  his  cha- 
racter through  every  period  of  his  life."  More  direct 
evidence  is  forthcoming  in  a  letter,  dated  September  2, 
1770,  to  Mrs.  Windham  from  Dr.  Dampier,  who  says  he 
has  seen  her  son  at  Oxford  and  has  heard  the  best  reports 
of  him.     "  He  is,  indeed,"  he  added,   "  a  very  extra- 

1  Samuel  Horsley,   F.R.S.    (i 733-1 806),   afterwards  Bishop  of    St. 
Asaph,  the  author  of  several  mathematical  works. 

2  These  Notes  were  pubhshed  in  Windham's  "  Diary  "  (1866). 


1782]  AN  OUTDOOR  STUDENT  11 

ordinary  young  gentleman,  and  if  please  God,  he  enjoys 
his  health,  he  cannot  fail  of  making  a  very  considerable 
figure  in  the  world."  ^  Though,  according  to  all  accounts, 
very  studious,  Windham  did  not  win  any  academic  distinc- 
tions. He  took  his  B.A.  degree  in  177 1,  in  which  year  he 
left  the  University.  He  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  M.A., 
October  7, 1782  ;  and  eleven  years  later,  at  the  installation 
of  the  Duke  of  Portland  as  Chancellor,  he  was  made  D.C.L. 

While  at  Oxford  Windham  interested  himself  not 
at  all  in  public  affairs.  Indeed,  so  little  attention  did 
he  pay  to  current  events  that  one  of  his  friends,  as  it 
amused  the  statesman  in  later  days  sometimes  to  recall, 
remarked,  "  Windham  would  never  know  who  was 
Prime  Minister."  Proof  that  his  attitude  of  indifference 
was  sincere  is  to  be  found  in  his  refusal  of  the  offer  made 
to  him,  while  he  was  still  at  Oxford,  by  his  father's  old 
friend,  LordTownshend,2  then  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
to  go  to  Dublin  as  His  Excellency's  secretary.  That  the 
offer  should  have  been  made,  however,  may  be  accepted 
as  evidence  that  even  at  this  early  age  Windham  was 
recognised  as  possessing  unusual  ability.  ' 

Windham  was  fond  of  outdoor  sports  ;  he  loved  books, 
and  was  never  happier  than  when  engaged  in  the  composi- 
tion of  his  mathematical  treatises.  When  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  in  1773,  a  thirst  for  adventure  led  him 
to  join  his  friend,  Commodore  Phipps,^  who,  in  the 
Racehorse,  set  out,  in  company  with  the  Carcass,  to  attempt 
the  discovery  of  the  northern  route  to  India.  He  suffered 
so  severely  from  sea-sickness,  however,  that  he  had  to 
abandon  the  expedition.     He  was  landed,  on  June  29, 

1  KettonMSS. 

2  George,  fourth  Viscount  and  first  Marquis  Townshend  (i 724-1 807). 

3  Constantine  John  Phipps  [(i  744-1 792)  succeeded  his  father  as 
second)  Baron  Mulgrave  in  1775. 


12  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

at  Bergen,  in  Norway,  where,  Amyot  mentions,  though 
unhappily  without  giving  any  particulars,  he  passed 
through  "  a  series  of  adventures  and  '  hair-breadth 
'scapes  '  in  which  his  courage  and  humanity  were  con- 
spicuous." '  Some  extracts  from  a  diary  Windham 
kept  at  this  time  have  been  preserved,  the  first  part  of 
that  printed  here  having  probably  been  written  shortly 
after  he  left  England. 

Secret  AND  separate.  This  is  my  confidential  book; 
in  this  will  be  contained  all  those  thoughts,  memo- 
randums, notes,  reflexions,  &c.,  which  no  eye  must  see 
but  my  own.  To  thee,  my  ever-adorable  friend,  do  I 
dedicate  it,  with  whose  name  it  will  chiefly  be  filled. 
May  God  grant  that  we  may  meet  again,  and  enjoy 
together  the  recollection  of  the  times  when  these  were 
written  ! 

How  have  I  fulfilled  my  resolution  ?  The  time  since 
the  writing  of  the  above,  indeed  since  my  getting  on 
board  at  Sheerness,  has  been  a  chasm  in  the  history  of 
one's  mind  ;  instead  of  exerting  myself  to  preserve  a 
lively  recollection  of  things  past  or  absent ;  instead  of 
thought  and  vigilance  and  exertion,  which  I  fancied 
would  be  excited  by  the  newness  of  the  situation,  my 
mind  has  been  occupied  only  with  melancholy  reflexions 
on  the  business  I  had  undertaken,  and  a  comparison  of 
my  present  state  with  the  enjoyments  of  Ickleford 
parlour.  Not  one  purpose  which  I  proposed  in  the  voyage 
has  been  answered  :  on  the  contrary  my  powers  of 
reflexion  have  been  weakened,  and  my  thoughts  been  less 
active  and  my  perceptions  less  lively  than  they  would 
have  been  at  Felbrigg  or  Oxford.  I  could  form  no  strong 
conception  of  the  condition  in  which  I  stood,  nor  feel 
myself  excited  by  the  recollection  of  my  own  sensations 
at  other  times.     Let  me  learn  from  this,  what  I  might 

1  Amyot,  "  Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  6. 


1782]  AN  EARLY  DIARY  13 

have  known  indeed  by  former  experience,  and  from  the 
nature  of  the  thing  itself,  that  the  state  of  a  person's 
mind  is  not  materially  altered  by  change  of  place ; 
cesium  non  anitnuni  mutant  qui  trans  mare  curruni. 

The  interval  from  my  coming  to  Sheemess  to  my 
quitting  the  Hamburgh  vessel  I  will  set  aside  by  itself,  and 
either  leave  it  wholly  to  memory,  or  take  some  notes  of  it 
at  some  future  time  :  my  diary  commencing  from  that 
time  and  now  instant,  I  will  endeavour  to  keep  with  some 
regularity. 

After  getting  clear  of  the  ship,  we  set  off  very  pleasantly 
for  Bergen,  the  schipper  and  I  being  in  the  pilot's  boat, 
and  his  boat  with  his  own  people  attending  us.  The 
sight  of  land,  and  the  prospect  of  being  shortly  in  a 
town,  and  among  people  who  could  speak  English  made 
me  feel  at  first  very  comfortably  :  but  it  soon  began  to 
occur  to  me  that  I  had  conducted  affairs  with  my  usual 
mismanagement.  By  bringing  this  man  to  the  town 
with  me,  I  was  publishing  the  bargain  I  had  made  with 
him,  and  all  for  no  purpose  but  to  procure  money  for  a 
fellow,  without  any  occasion,  who  had  already  fleeced 
me  most  unmercifully.  At  any  rate  I  was  discovering 
that  which  I  wished  to  have  concealed  ;  and  a  thought 
now  came  into  my  head  which  had  never  occurred  before, 
that  the  particularity  of  such  a  bargain  might  suggest 
an  idea,  which  idea  might  travel  a  great  way,  of  the  agree- 
ment having  been  made  in  some  fright,  taken  at  an  appear- 
ance of  danger.  The  landlord  was  likely  to  mention  the 
circumstance  of  an  English  gentleman,  of  such  a  name, 
having  come  in  such  a  manner,  in  his  letters  to  Scotland  : 
there  might  be  several  Scotch  and  Irish  masters  of  ships  in 
the  place  ;  as  improbable  stories  had  risen  from  as  little 
beginnings  and  been  circulated  by  less  direct  means. 
These  reflexions  made  me  very  uneasy,  and  threw  me 
into  a  fit  of  rage  and  despair  at  my  own  foUy,  in  which 
state  I  with  some  difficulty  got  to  sleep.   .   .  . 

At  about  4  o'clock,  then,  on  Tuesday  morning,  being 


14  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

the  29th  of  June  and  the  day  before  yesterda3^^  I  landed 
at  Bergen.  The  appearance  of  the  place  at  coming  in 
was  very  fine  and  romantick,  but  the  mortification  I 
felt  about  this  affair  had  depressed  my  spirits  and  I  was 
foolish  enough  to  be  quite  melancholy  at  the  idea  of  being 
alone  in  a  strange  country,  or,  what  was  less  remarkable, 
at  the  prospect  of  a  journey  of  600  miles  through  such  a 
tract  of  mountains.  The  hospitality  however,  and  civility 
of  my  landlord  have  made  my  stay  here  very  comfort- 
able. .  .  . 

The  Consul  here  is  Alexander  Wallace,  Esqre.,  whose 
sons,  in  his  absence,  I  went  on  Tuesday  to  wait  upon, 
and  found  as  completely  Scotch  as  if  they  had  lived  in 
Edinburgh  all  their  Uves.  The  youngest  asked  me  in 
token  of  his  sentiments,  whether  Mr.  Wilkes  was  hanged 
yet,  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that  he  is  a  little  disordered 
in  his  head,  which  prevented  my  giving  such  a  reply  as  I 
should  otherwise.  .  .   . 

The  town  of  Bergen  contains  no  very  striking  edifices, 
nor  has  it  any  very  regular  or  spacious  streets,  but  the 
whole  appearance  of  it  is  clean  and  lively,  the  houses  being 
built  of  wood  and  painted,  and  the  roofs  covered  in 
general  with  red  tiles.  At  the  water's  edge  on  one  side  are 
warehouses  raised  on  piles  and  projecting  over  for  the 
convenience  of  receiving  and  shipping  timber,  and  on  the 
opposite  side  is  a  broad  wooden  quay  which  is  set  apart 
entirely  to  the  fish  traders.  .  .  . 

Till  within  these  few  years,  there  were  I  believe  no 
stone  buildings,  but  they  have  now  got  a  Dutch  church, 
and  a  sort  of  castle  and  some  houses  built  by  a  Scotch 
mason,  who  came  over  with  his  people,  after  the  last  fire  ; 
and  what  is  very  remarkable,  the  stone  was  obliged  to  be 
fetched  from  Scotland  likewise.  .  .  . 

July  ^rd.  I  have  just  had  a  visit  from  the  Consul  who 
came  very  civilly  to  wait  upon  me  immediately  on  his 
return  to  town.  He  seems  a  brisk  intelligent  man,  and  to 
be  of  much  pleasanter  manners  than  his  sons.     I  dined 


1782]  AT  BERGEN  15 

yesterday  at  his  house,  before  his  return.  The  dinner 
and  what  belonged  to  it,  was  certainly  ordinary  ...  it 
consisted  of  three  dishes  .  .  .  sent  up  one  by  one  accord- 
ing to  the  Bergen  fashion,  to  which  the  company  were 
helped  in  order  after  the  master  of  the  family  or  his  wife 
had  taken  off  a  sufficient  number  of  portions.  .  .  . 

No  liquor  was  given  at  dinner,  that  I  saw,  besides  wine, 
to  which  we  were  helped  from  time  to  time  by  Mr.  Wallace 
or  his  brother,  and  at  each  glass  some  toast  was  given, 
such  as.  Friends  in  Norfolk,  in  Scotland,  &c.  .   .  . 

nth,  Sunday.  This  morning  at  a  little  before  seven, 
after  rising  at  three  in  order  to  finish  my  letters  to 
Cholmondeley  and  Mrs.  Byng  ^  I  set  off  from  Bergen.  .  .  . 
'Tis  now  near  7  in  the  evening,  and  we  have  passed  the 
5th  Gastschever's  house  or  the  5th  Norse  mile.  The 
weather  has  been  very  pleasant,  and  I  am  much  refreshed 
by  my  dinner  and  some  sleep  I  got  between  12  and  4,  yet 
I  am  far  from  being  in  spirits,  and  the  reflexions  that  for 
three  months  I  shall  have  known  nothing  of  those  I  love, 
and  that  no  age  is  insured  from  the  common  fatality  of 
nature,  makes  me  very  unhappy. 

12th.  After  continuing  upon  the  water  all  last  night, 
and  to-day,  and  thus  much  of  this  night  I  am  just  arrived, 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning  at  Ardalsare  [?  Aardal].  .  .  . 

The  town  very  small,  consisting  of  about  50  buildings, 
most  of  which  I  understood  were  used  only  as  ware- 
houses. .  .  .  Tuesday  about  three  o'clock,  after  much 
chattering  between  Gron  and  the  people,  we  left  Landal 
[?  Laerdalsoren] :  I  had  been  detained  some  time  by  my 
letter  to  my  dearest  friend  ...  at  the  end  of  the  two 
mile  we  were  forced  to  ascend  part  of  a  steep  mountain 

^  Mrs.  Byng  was  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  John  Byng,  afterwards  fifth 
Viscount  Torrington.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Commodore  Arthur 
Forrest,  who,  with  the  Dreadnought,  Edinburgh,  and  Augusta,  beat 
five  sail-of-the-Hne  and  three  French  frigates  off  Cape  Francois.  He 
died  on  May  26,  1770,  while  Commander-in-Chief  at  Jamaica.  His 
second  daughter  was  Augusta  ;  the  third  Ceciha,  who  in  1798  married 
William  Windham.  Forrest  had  married  a  daughter  of  ColoneJ  Lynch, 
of  Jamaica.     She  died  in  1804,  aged  eighty-two. 


i6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

to  meet  the  river  on  the  other  side.  The  passage  during 
this  ascent  and  our  descending  the  river  again  was  the 
wildest  I  had  ever  seen.  I  was  admiring  a  fine  fall  of 
waters  that  descended  on  the  opposite  side,  when  my 
guide  chose  to  entertain  me,  by  way  of  anecdote  of  the 
place,  with  the  story  of  a  man  who  had  been  robbed  and 
murdered  there.  ...  I  think  this  scene  was  adequate  to 
all  my  hopes  of  a  mountainous  country.  After  getting 
through  a  road  infinitely  abrupt  and  rugged,  we  crossed 
the  river  again  on  a  bridge  about  40  feet  in  length  and 
twenty  in  height,  thrown  over  without  any  support  in 
the  middle,  so  that,  as  my  guide  told  me,  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  let  only  one  horse  pass  at  a  time. 

...  At  last  we  met  with  a  house  where  the  woman 
regaled  us  very  comfortably  with  eggs  and  loaf-bread  and 
some  cheese  that  was  very  eatable.  I  gave  her  4  or  5 
stivers  and  she  expressed  her  thankfulness  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  girl  at  Landal  by  taking  me  by  the  hand. 


Arrived  at  Elsinore  on  Saturday  the  31st  of  July  between 
II  and  12  at  night.  ...  My  first  care  on  coming  thither 
was  to  enquire  about  the  post,  and  put  in  a  letter  to  my 
dearest  friend.  The  next  day  dined  with  Mr.  Godwin 
and  made  the  necessary  enquiries  about  a  ship,  and  in 
the  evening  went  over  to  Copenhagen.   .  .   . 

GoTTENBERG.  Almost  all  the  women  that  I  saw  in  the 
streets  of  Gottenberg  of  the  appearance  of  gentlewomen 
were  covered  with  black  veils.  The  women  in  Sweden 
were  much  more  comely  than  those  in  Norway,  owing 
chiefly  I  believe  to  their  taking  some  pains  to  protect 
their  faces  from  the  weather. 

For  the  first  part  of  my  journey  from  Bergen,  the 
women  I  think  went  entirely  without  covering  on  their 
heads,  and  were  the  most  disgustful  objects  I  ever  saw, 
which  undoubtedly  was  owing  very  much  to  that  cause, 
though  I  don't  think  entirely.     A  great  change  was  to  be 


1782]  RECREATIONS  17 

observed  in  their  countenances  as  we  came  nearer  to 
Christiania,  where  the  use  of  a  large  covering  of  Hnen 
began. 

Friederickshald  was  the  first  place  where  I  observed 
any  oak.* 

The  records  for  the  next  few  years  are  extremely  scanty', 
as  George  Ellis  complained  a  century  ago  when  he  sat 
down  to  write  the  biography  of  his  friend.  Windham 
divided  his  time  between  Felbrigg,  where  he  hunted  and 
read,  and  London,  where  he  went  into  society.  He  became 
a  member  of  Brooks's,  and  vastly  extended  the  circle  of 
his  friends.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of  Horsley 
and  Francis  Maseres,^  and  corresponded  with  them  on 
mathematical  subjects.  He  wrote  occasional  verses,  and 
a  specimen  of  his  pedestrian  efforts  in  this  direction  has 
been  preserved. 

Verses  sent  by  Mr.  Windham  to  a  Young  Lady  with 
A  Copy  of  Dr.  Johnson's  Works,  1785 

As  Adam,  by  the  great  Archangel  led, 
Saw  life's  great  plan,  in  dejtined  order  fpread  ; 
So  in  thefe  leaves  to  thee,  fair  nymph,  isfhown, 
Th'  inf tractive  image  of  a  world  unknown  ; 
There  thou  mayft  learn,  by  trial  yet  untaught. 
How  never  happinefs  by  wealth  was  bought ; 
There  fee  what  ills  affail  the  rich  and  great, 
Nor  f corn  the  bleffings  of  an  humble  fate. 
Still  to  this  fate  with  equal  hand  are  given 
The  choiceft  bounties  of  indulgent  heaven  ; 
Untainted  joys,  the  funfhine  of  the  breaft, 
Love's  pureft  flame  by  mutual  ardour  bleft  ; 

»  KettonMSS.  21 1-2 14. 

2  Francis  Maseres  (i 731-1824),  mathematician,  subsequently  Cursitor 
Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 

I  B 


18  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

To  the  fair  charmer  hefuchjoys  decreed, 
Of  worth  and  beauty  Juch  the  precious  meed  ! 
Blefs  with  thy  charms  fome  fond  admiring  f wain, 
Some  f wain  he  found,  worthy  thofe  charms  to  gain  !  ^ 

It  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  year  1778  that 
Windham  first  stepped  into  the  poHtical  arena,  and  he 
did  so  then  only  because  of  the  interest  he  took  in  the 
momentous  affair  of  the  American  War  of  Independence. 
Though  entirely  unpractised  in  public  speaking,  he,  under 
the  stress  of  the  strong  views  he  held,  nerved  himself  to 
take  the  field  at  Norwich  against  those  who  supported  the 
continuance  of  what  to  him,  as  to  so  many  clear-sighted 
men,  appeared  an  altogether  hopeless  and  unjust  cam- 
paign. An  early  intimation  of  his  attitude  is  given  in  a 
letter  to  Sheridan,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made 
earlier  at  Bath. 

William  Windham  to  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan 

Felbrigg  (?).     January  5, 1778 

I  fear  my  letter  will  greatly  disappoint  your  hopes. 
I  have  no  account  to  send  you  of  my  answering  Lord 
Townshend — of  hard-fought  contests — spirited  resolves 
— ^ballads,  mobs,  cockades,  and  Lord  North  burnt  in 
effigy.  We  have  had  a  bloodless  campaign,  but  not 
from  backwardness  in  our  troops,  but  for  the  most 
creditable  reason  that  can  be — ^want  of  resolution  in  the 
enemy  to  encounter  us.  When  I  got  down  here  early 
this  morning,  expecting  to  find  a  room  prepared,  a  chair 
set  for  the  president,  and  nothing  wanting  but  that  the 
orators  should  begin,  I  was  surprised  to  learn  that  no 
advertisement  had  appeared  on  the  other  part ;  but 
that  Lord  Townshend  having  dined  at  a  meeting  where  the 

^  Crewe   Papers:   Windham   Section,  p.  12  ("Miscellanies"  of  the 
Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  viii.).     See  also  Add.  MSS.  37934  f.  66. 


i 


I 


1782]  INTRODUCTION  TO  POLITICS  19 

proposal  [to  raise  a  War  Fund  at  Norwich]  was  received 
very  coldly,  had  taken  fright,  and  for  the  time  at  least 
had  dropped  the  proposal.  It  had  appeared,  therefore,  to 
those  whom  I  applied  to  (and  I  think  very  rightly)  that 
till  an  advertisement  was  inserted  by  them,  or  was 
known  for  certain  to  be  intended,  it  would  not  be  proper 
for  anything  to  be  done  by  us.  In  this  state,  therefore, 
it  rests.  The  advertisement  which  we  agreed  upon  is 
left  at  the  printers,  ready  to  be  inserted  upon  the  appear- 
ance of  one  from  them.  We  lie  upon  our  arms,  and  shall 
begin  to  act  upon  any  motion  of  the  enemy.  I  am  very 
sorry  that  things  have  taken  this  turn,  as  I  came  down 
in  full  confidence  of  being  able  to  accomplish  something 
distinguished.  I  had  drawn  up,  as  I  came  along,  a 
tolerably  good  paper,  to  be  distributed  to-morrow  in  the 
streets,  and  settled  pretty  well  in  my  head  the  terms  of 
a  protest— besides  some  pretty  smart  pieces  of  oratory, 
delivered  upon  Newmarket-Heath.  I  never  felt  so  much 
disposition  to  exert  myself  before — ^I  hope  from  my 
never  having  before  so  fair  a  prospect  of  doing  it  with 
success.  When  the  coach  comes  in,  I  hope  I  shall  receive 
a  packet  from  you,  which  shall  not  be  lost,  though  it  may 
not  be  used  immediately. 

I  must  leave  off  writing,  for  I  have  got  some  other 
letters  to  send  by  to-night's  post.  Writing  in  this  ink  is 
like  speaking  with  respect  to  the  utter  annihilation  of 
what  is  past ;— by  the  time  it  gets  to  you,  perhaps,  it 
may  have  become  legible,  but  I  have  no  chance  of  reading 
over  my  letter  myself. 

I  shall  not  suffer  this  occasion  to  pass  over  entirely 
without  benefit. 

[P.S.]  Tell  Mrs.  Sheridan  that  I  hope  she  will  have  a 
closet  ready,  where  I  may  remain  till  the  heat  of  the 
pursuit  is  over.  My  friends  in  France  have  promised  to 
have  a  vessel  ready  upon  the  coast. ^ 

^  Moore,  "  Life  of  Sheridan  "  (fifth  edition),  i.  290-292. 


20  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

Windham  delivered  his  maiden  speech  at  a  pubHc 
meeting  convened  at  Norwich  on  January  28,  when  he 
spoke  against  the  war  and  also  opposed  Lord  Townshend's 
proposal  for  a  subscription  to  defray  its  cost.  A  few 
days  later  he  drew  up  a  remonstrance  against  the  war, 
which  was  signed  by  about  five  thousand  people,  and 
presented  to  the  House  of  Commons.  ^  Once  Windham 
had  taken  the  plunge,  and  found  it  to  his  liking,  it  is 
probable  that  he  might  at  once  have  embraced  a  political 
career,  had  he  not  soon  after  been  prostrated  by  illness. 

It  was  early  in  the  year  that  the  Militia  was  called  out, 
and  Windham,  who  was  a  Major  in  the  Norfolk  regiment, 
had  to  take  up  his  military  du+ies.  It  happened  that  an 
opportunity  at  once  offered  for  the  display  of  his  courage. 
It  was  customary  to  pay  the  men  a  "  marching  guinea  " 
before  they  started,  but  the  Colonel  on  this  occasion,  for 
some  reason  best  known  to  himself,  gave  instructions 
that  it  was  not  to  be  paid  until  the  regiment  had  left  the 
county.  The  men  assembled  near  the  Castle  at  Norwich; 
but  when  Windham  gave  the  word  to  march,  they 
grounded  their  arms  and  refused  to  move  until  they 
received  the  guinea  apiece.  When  the  command  was 
repeated,  some  of  the  men  wavered,  and,  seeing  this; 
one  of  the  ring-leaders  left  his  place,  and  told  the  waverers 
to  be  firm.  Him  Windham  seized,  and  in  spite  of  the 
threatening  attitude  of  the  soldiers,  hauled  to  the  Guard- 
House.  When  the  comrades  of  the  imprisoned  man 
demanded  his  release,  Windham  stood  at  the  door  of  the 
Guard-House,  drawn  sword  in  hand,  and  swore  that  while 
he  lived  the  man  should  not  go  free.  Eventually  Wind- 
ham was  rescued  from  this  precarious  position  by  some 
men  of  his  own,  the  Western,  battalion.     Shortly  after 

^  Walpole,  "  Last  Journals  "  (ed.  Steuart),  ii.  up. 


1782]    PROPOSES  TO  ENTER  PARLIAMENT        21 

this  exciting  episode  his  life  was  in  even  greater  danger. 
Marching  with  the  regiment,  he,  with  two  brother- 
officers,  rode,  "  for  the  fun  of  the  thing,"  through  a  deep 
rivulet.  He  had  to  remain  for  hours  in  wet  clothes,  with 
the  result  that  he  contracted  a  high  fever,  and  was  brought 
within  an  ace  of  death.  It  is  said  that  from  the  effect 
of  this  illness  his  constitution  never  entirely  recovered. 
When  he  was  well  enough  to  travel  he  went  abroad, 
and  remained  in  Switzerland  and  Italy  for  nearly 
two  years. 

The  speech  that  Windham  had  made  on  the  war  im- 
pressed his  hearers,  and  some  of  them  invited  him  to 
stand  at  the  next  election  as  a  Coalition  candidate  at 
Norwich.  To  this  offer  he  returned  an  acceptance.  A 
good  speaker,  a  rich  man,  and  belonging  to  an  old  family 
well-known  in  the  county,  he  was  an  excellent  selection, 
and  offers  of  support  poured  in  upon  him  while  he  was 
still  abroad. 

Viscount  Townshend  to  William  Windham 

March  22,  1779 
The  reason  of  my  giving  you  this  trouble  is,  that  I  have 
thought  it  fair  to  assuer  you,  that  I  shall  endevur  to 
serve  you,  with  all  the  little  interest  I  may  pretend  too  in 
Norfolk,  heareing  you  intend  to  stand  at  our  next  Election 
for  that  County,  and  fiending  that  Sir  J[ohn]  H[olland] 
hath  bine  so  warmely  receved,  I  iudge  it  may  not  be  long 
before  there  will  be  another  Election,  and  therefore  that 
teime  is  not  to  be  lost  in  preparing  our  friends,  upon  which 
I  desier  to  heare  a  word  or  two  from  you,  for  I  know  as 
these  Knights  are  very  free,  and  open  in  declaring  their 
intentions  of  standing  again,  so  they  are  by  friends  in 
the  Country  soliciting  all  mankind,  and  I  looke  upon  this 
affaire  as  of  great  importance  to  all  our  reputations. 


22  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

upon  which  I  desier  no  advantage  may  be  gained  in  point 
of  conduct. 

I  wish  you  would  let  Sir  John  Holland  and  as  many 
more  as  conveniently  as  you  can,  know  your  mind  early 
in  this  matter,  otherwise  some  will  pretend  engagement. 

I  know  all  news  you  have  from  better  hands  and 
abler  to  write  at  large  than  I  am  ;  and  the  truth  is  of 
myselfc  never  I  desierd  to  have  a  long  letter  from  such 
one  as  mien  is,  wherefore  remembering  the  old  rule  of 
doeing  as  I  would  be  done  by,  I  conclud,  in  great  ernest 
both  to  you,  my  sister,  and  all  yours,  that  I  am  as  related 
and  obliged  with  all  affexions  and  reall  humble  service.^ 

William  Windham  to  Viscount  Townshend 

March  26,  1779 
The  Assurance  your  Lordship  is  pleased  to  give  me  of 
your  countenance  and  Assistance  at  the  next  Election, 
will  incourage  me  to  declare  I  am  willing  to  serve  the 
Countie,  if  they  think  me  worthy  of  the  Imployment. 
And  I  am  so  sensible  of  the  Influence,  the  success  of  this 
affair  will  have  upon  this  County,  that  I  have  lost  no 
time  towards  the  setting  up  of  the  old  English  Interest, 
which  I  hope  to  see  once  more  flourish  among  us.^ 

At  the  election  in  September  1780  William  was  nomin- 
ated with  Sir  Harbord  Harbord,^  who  had  represented  the 
constituency  for  twenty  years,  against  Bacon,  one  of  the 
Lords  of  Trade,  and  John  Thurlow.*  Windham  was  on 
his  way  home,  all  unconscious  of  what  had  happened, 
when  the  election  began,  and  he  arrived  at  Norwich  only 
three  days  before  the  polling  commenced,  too  late  to 
take  any  effective  part  on  his  own  behalf.  Sir  Harbord 
Harbord  and  Bacon  were  returned. 

1  Add.  MSS.  3791 1  f.  I.  2  A(jjj  Mss.  3791 1  f.  8. 

*  Sir  Harbord  Harbord,  afterwards  Lord  Suffield. 
4  John,  a  brother  of  Edward  (afterwards  Lord  Chancellor)  Thurlow, 
died  March  ii,  1782. 


1782]  BROOKS'S  23 

Windham  was  much  in  London  after  his  return  from 
abroad.  As  a  member  of  Brooks's  he  became  more  and 
more  drawn  into  the  vortex  of  political  affairs.  His 
intimacy  with  Fox  and  Burke  not  unnaturally  induced 
him  to  be  enrolled,  more  or  less  officially,  as  a  supporter 
of  the  party  of  which  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham 
was  the  nominal  head,  and  he  was  urged  to  stand  for 
the  first  vacancy  for  the  Parliamentary  representation 
of  Westminster,  an  offer  he  declined  in  favour  of  Norwich. 
He  was,  of  course,  keenly  interested  in  the  fall  of  Lord 
North  and  the  composition  of  the  Administration  that 
followed. 

William  Windham  to  Bartlett  Gurney,  Norwich 

March  25,  1782 

After  every  expression  of  dislike  and  reluctance,  the 
bitter  draught  is  at  length  swallowed,  and  His  Majesty 
has  submitted  to  the  hard  necessity  of  taking  for  his 
Ministers  the  most  virtuous  set  perhaps  of  public  men 
that  ever  appeared  in  this  country.  About  four  o'clock 
to-day  Mr.  Dunning  announced  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  the  room  of  Lord  North,  who  did  not  choose  to 
come  down,  that  the  arrangement  known  to  have  been 
proposed  the  evening  before,  was  accepted,  and  that  it 
would  be  signified  in  form  to  the  House  on  Wednesday 
next.  The  arrangement  is  as  follows  : — First  Lord  of  the 
Treasury,  Lord  Rockingham  ;  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, Lord  John  Cavendish  ;  President  of  the  Council, 
Lord  Camden  ;  Privy  Seal,  Duke  of  Grafton  ;  Commander 
in-Chief,  General  Conway  ^ ;  Ordnance,  Duke  of  Richmond ; 
Admiralty,  Admiral  Keppel ;  Secretaries  of  State,  Lord 
Shelburne,  Mr.  Fox.  Other  appointments  are  left  for 
further  consideration.  Every  art  of  evasion  and  negotia- 
tion was  put  in  practice  to  the  last,  and  it  was  hardly 

^  General  Henry  Seymour  Conway  (1721-1795). 


24  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

known  what  was  determined  upon  till  the  moment 
Mr.  Dunning  came  to  the  House,  his  message  coming  to 
him;  as  I  understood,  from  Shelburne,  to  whom  it  was 
signified  by  the  King.  Lord  Rockingham's  conduct  has 
been  as  great  in  the  latter  part  of  this  negotiation  as  in 
the  former.  He  refused  absolutely  to  abate  one  jot  of 
his  first  declaration  ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  willing  to 
sacrifice  every  private  punctilio  by  which  the  King  hoped 
to  have  created  a  jealousy  between  him  and  Lord  Shel- 
burne. The  first-fruits  of  this  administration  will  be 
an  exclusion  from  Parliament  of  all  those  who  have 
fattened  on  the  ruins  of  the  country  by  jobs  and  contracts, 
and  the  destruction  of  one  source  of  undue  influence  with- 
out doors  in  the  exclusion  of  the  votes  of  revenue  officers. 
Secondly,  the  great  articles  of  reform  proposed  in  Mr. 
Burke's  life,  will  go  on  with  all  despatch.  With  what 
face  will  people  oppose  the  appointment  of  a  Ministry; 
composed  of  men  who  have  uniformly  supported  the 
cause  of  the  country  for  near  twenty  years,  and  who  make 
it  the  condition  of  their  entering  into  office,  that  they 
should  deprive  themselves  of  the  means  of  corrupt  in- 
fluences ? 

Those  who  declare  themselves  enemies  to  this  adminis- 
tration must  declare  themselves  the  friends  of  corruption 
and  enemies  of  reform.^ 


William  Windham  to  E.  Norgate  ^ 

Queen  Anne  Street 

June  5,  1782 

You  have  heard,  no  doubt,  from  the  papers,  as  well  as 

from  a  letter  or  two  of  mine  sent  to  Norwich,  a  general 

account  of  my  transactions,  with  respect  to  becoming  a 

candidate  for  Westminster.     In  the  whole  business,  from 

^  Windham's  "  Diary,"  p.  37. 

2  A  gentleman  at  Norwich  who  was  an  active  supporter  of  Wind- 
ham's parhamentary  interests  there. 


1782]  POLITICAL  VIEWS  25 

the  first  mention  of  it  soon  after  the  general  election,  to 
the  present  occasion,  I  had  remained  nearly  passive  ; 
not  thinking  a  seat  for  Westminster  an  offer  to  be  declined, 
if  attainable  upon  easy  terms,  nor  considering  it  an  object 
to  be  pursued  through  the  medium  of  much  difficulty  or 
expence.  This  intention  of  leaving  matters  to  their  own 
operation,  produced  at  first  by  the  considerations  above 
mentioned,  was  confirmed  afterwards  by  another  feeling, 
when,  by  the  management  of  some  particular  persons,  a 
resolution  was  carried  at  one  of  the  general  meetings  for 
putting  up  Mr.  Pitt,  in  case  of  a  vacancy.  After  that, 
propriety  required  that  a  renewal  of  our  correspondence 
should  come  as  a  formal  invitation  from  them  ;  and 
partly  in  that  form  it  was  about  to  come,  that  is,  as  a 
resolution  of  the  Westminster  Committee,  without  any 
sort  of  application  from  me  ;  when,  upon  inquiry  inta 
the  general  sentiments  of  the  people  on  the  question  oi 
Parliamentary  Reform,  by  which,  though  my  election 
could  not  have  been  prevented,  my  situation,  upon  the 
whole,  would  have  been  rendered  unpleasant ;  and  from 
the  reflection  that,  on  a  vacancy  happening  in  the  mean- 
while at  Norwich,  a  person  might  be  chosen  who  could 
not  afterwards  be  set  aside,  I  determined  not  to  wait 
till  a  resolution  of  the  committee  might  make  refusal  more 
difficult,  but  to  forestal  their  deliberations  by  a  letter 
declining  the  honour  that  might  be  intended  me.  The 
reasons  assigned  in  my  letter  were,  the  difference  of 
opinion  that  prevailed  in  some  of  the  independent  interest 
with  respect  to  myself,  destroying  that  unanimity  of 
choice,  without  which  I  should  not  be  ambitious  of  a  seat 
at  Westminster  ;  and  my  disagreements,  signified  in  pretty 
explicit  terms,  with  many  of  the  opinions  that  seemed 
then  to  be  popular.  I  should  flatter  myself,  that  no  part 
of  this  transaction  can  have  prejudiced  my  interest  at 
Norwich,  and  that  the  conclusion  ought  rather  to  have 
promoted  it.^ 

1  Amyot,  "  Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  14. 


26  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1750- 

Lord  Rockingham  died  on  July  i,  1782,  and,  after 
much  negotiation  and  many  intrigues,  Lord  Shelburne 
became  Prime  Minister,  whereupon  Fox,  Burke,  and 
others  of  the  Rockingham  party  withdrew  from  the 
Ministry. 


William  Windham  to  E.  Norgate 

Queen  Anne  Street 
July  4,  1782 
You  feel  no  doubt  at  Norwich,  as  at  every  other  place, 
a  share  of  the  general  consternation  into  which  all  good 
men  are  thrown  by  the  death  of  Lord  Rockingham. 
There  could  be  no  time  in  which  the  loss  of  such  a  character 
as  his,  must  not  have  been  severely  felt ;  but  now  it  falls 
with  a  weight  that  crushes.  The  every  existence  of  that 
interest  which  has  maintained  the  cause  of  the  country 
since  the  Revolution,  is  in  danger  of  terminating  in  his 
person.  The  only  hope  and  endeavour  must  be,  in  my 
humble  opinion,  to  keep  the  troops  [in  America]  together, 
by  withdrawing  them  from  action  for  a  time,  and  leaving 
the  enemy  to  pursue  his  operations,  till  they  can  have 
recovered  their  spirits,  and  retrieved  their  losses,  suffi- 
ciently to  make  a  new  attack.  Some  of  the  most  con- 
siderable amongst  them  are  strongly  of  that  opinion,  and 
urge  the  immediate  resignation  of  their  places,  if  Lord 
Shelburne  is  to  be  at  the  head  of  affairs.  Others  are  of 
opinion  that  they  should  still  continue  in,  in  order  to 
complete  the  good  they  have  begun,  and  not  quit  the 
public  service  till  his  conduct  shall  have  driven  them  from 
it.  The  advocates  for  either  opinion  are  actuated  by 
perfectly  honest  motives.  I  am,  for  my  own  part,  clearly 
for  the  sentiments  of  the  former,  and  think  there  can  be 
neither  credit  nor  safety  to  themselves,  nor  consequently 
final  advantage  to  the  country,  in  their  continuing  in 
office.     The  danger  of  continuing  is,  that  they  will  miss 


1782]  A  RETROSPECT  27 

an  opportunity  of  breaking  off  with  credit  and  effect,  and 
never  find  another.^ 


Extract  from  Windham's  Diary 

October  3,  1782 
This  day  at  one  o'clock  after  an  interval  of  ten  years,  I 
arrived  at  Oxford,  not  having  been  here,  except  for  one 
night,  since  I  quitted  it  in  the  year  1772.  It  happens 
particularly  that  I  am  in  the  very  same  rooms,  in  which 
I  was  placed,  just  fourteen  years  ago,  at  my  first  entrance 
into  the  University.  At  the  latter  end  of  August,  or 
beginning  of  September  of  the  year  1768,  did  I  enter  a 
member  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  make  my  first 
trial  of  academical  life  in  these  rooms.  The  recollection 
which  this  circumstance  revives,  and  the  reflections  it 
gives  rise  to,  are  not  such  as  dispose  one  to  cheerfulness. 
Has  the  intermediate  time  been  passed  in  a  way,  that  I 
can  look  back  upon  it  with  pleasure  or  approbation  ? 
Has  the  effect  of  fourteen  years  been  such  as  expectation 
represented  it  ?  Am  I,  comparatively  with  what  I  was, 
in  knowledge,  habits  and  powers,  what  I  looked  forward 
to  be,  and  what  I  might  have  been  ?  If  I  look  back  to  the 
performances  of  that  time,  one  might  be  led  to  think  that 
the  difference  of  power  was  inconsiderable  ;  in  powers 
merely  natural,  it  maybe  doubtful  whether  there  is  any. 
The  chief  difference  is  in  habits,  and  in  powers  dependent 
on  habit  (meaning  by  the  former,  rather  practices,  habits 
of  life  ;  and  by  the  latter,  habits  more  properly)  and  in 
short  may  be  called  methods.  In  all  these,  and  par- 
ticularly perhaps,  in  the  last,  something  has  been  done  ; 
but  it  is  a  melancholy  truth  that  the  greatest  part  of 
what  has  been  done,  has  been  the  work  of  a  little  more 
than  three  years,  and  was,  in  its  nature,  equally  capable 
of  being  done  ten  years  ago. 

1  Amyot,  "Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  i6. 


SECTION  II 

CHIEF   SECRETARY  TO  THE 

LORD-LIEUTENANT  OF 

IRELAND.      1783 


SECTION   II 

CHIEF  SECRETARY  TO  THE 

LORD-LIEUTENANT   OF 

IRELAND.     1783 

Lord  Northington  appointed  Lord -Lieutenant  of  Ireland  in 
the  Portland  Administration  :  Windham  accepts  office  of 
Chief  Secretary  to  the  Lord-Lieutenant  :  His  misgivings 
as  to  his  quahfications  :  Dr.  Johiison's  encouragement  :  Wind- 
ham accorded  a  hearty  welcome  in  Dublin  :  His  reputation 
in  1783  :  He  retires  in  August  :  The  reasons  for  his  retire- 
ment discussed  :  His  letter  notifying  Northington  of  his 
resignation  of  the  post  :  His  correspondence  with  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  and  the  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham. 

WHEN,  on  the  retirement  of  Lord  Shelburne 
in  1783,  the  Duke  of  Portland  ^  formed  a 
ministry,  he  appointed  Lord  Northington  ^ 
to  the  ofhce  of  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
and  Lord  Northington,  in  his  turn,  offered  Windham  the 
post  of  Chief  Secretary.  This  Windham  accepted,  but 
with  misgivings.  He  confided  to  Dr.  Johnson  his  doubts 
as  to  whether  he  was  possessed  of  the  necessary  diplo- 
matic quahfications.  "  Don't  be  afraid.  Sir,"  said  the 
great  man,  with  a  pleasant  smile,  "  you  will  soon  make 
a  very  pretty  rascal . "  ^  It  is  not  surprising  that  Windham 
accepted  reluctantly,  for  affairs  in  Ireland  were  in  a  state 
that   might   well   try   the   nerves   of   a   man   versed   in 

1  William    Henry    Cavendish    Bentinck,    third    Duke    of    Portland 
(1738-1809). 

2  Robert  Henley,  second  Earl  of  Northington  (i  747-1 786). 
^  Boswell,  "  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson  "  (ed.  Hill),  iv.  200. 

31 


32  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

political  matters,  and  were  likely  to  prove  remarkably 
difficult  for  an  unfledged  statesman.  Grattan  and  his 
party  were  flying  in  the  face  of  the  viceregal  policy, 
and  making  strenuous  efforts  to  secure  the  independence 
of  the  Irish  party — this  within  little  more  than  a 
decade  of  the  Union — and  to  obtain  a  measure  of  Catholic 
Emancipation,  a  concession  which,  it  was  an  open  secret, 
the  King  bitterly  opposed. 

In  Dublin  Windham  was  accorded  a  hearty  welcome, 
for  he  was  already  known  as  a  distinguished  scholar,  and 
looked  upon  as  one  who  would  probably  become  a  power 
in  the  political  world.  "  He  had  the  fire  and  the  dignity 
of  genius,"  wrote  Francis  Hardy,  the  friend  and  associate 
of  Grattan  in  the  Irish  Parliament.^ 

Some  months  later  Windham  wrote  to  Lord  Northing- 
ton  :  "I  am  in  no  danger  of  losing  the  recollection  of  it 
[Dublin  Castle]  altogether — it  would  be  ungrateful  in  me 
to  forget  such  a  scene  of  joy.  I  shall  long  retain  the  idea 
of  myself,  placed  in  my  chair  of  audience,  or  traversing 
with  my  box  in  my  hand,  that '  region,  dark  and  dolorous  ' 
that  divided  our  respective  habitations.  The  whole 
period,  so  short  in  its  duration,  so  unlike  the  way  of  life 
from  which  I  emerged,  and  to  which  I  am  returned, 
appears  like  a  dream." 

Windham  resigned  his  post  in  August,  after  a  tenure 
of  only  four  months.  The  reason  of  his  retirement  has 
been  much  discussed.  There  were  those  who  declared 
that  it  arose  out  of  a  disagreement  between  him  and  his 
chief,  and  this  view  found  support  in  a  letter;  dated 
Dublin,  August  26,  1782,  which  somehow  found  its  way 
into  the  newspapers.  "  Some  assert,"  so  runs  a  passage; 
"  that  his  resignation  was  chiefly  owing  to  a  coolness 

^  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Charlemont  (2nd  ed.),  ii.  82. 


1783]         RESIGNS  HIS  SECRETARYSHIP  33 

between  him  and  a  certain  great  personage. — ^Mr.  Wind- 
ham is  a  person  of  deep  science,  and  of  great  penetration 
and  abihties  ; — the  great  personage  Hkes  a  deep  bottle — 
to  penetrate  a  cork — and  has  strong  abihties  of  bearing 
wine.  The  one  was  an  enemy  to  thinking  ; — the  other  to 
drinking,  and  so  they  parted."  ^  That  this  was  not  the 
case  is  proved  by  the  correspondence  between  Lord 
Northington  and  Windham,  now  printed  for  the  first 
time.  The  writer  of  the  letter  already  quoted  went  on  to 
say  that  the  resignation  was  occasioned  partly  by  a  want 
of  "  due  requisites  in  Mr.  Windham  to  become  a  supple 
and  venal  courtier  " — precisely  the  deficiency  that  Wind- 
ham feared  would  unfit  him  for  the  office.  "  The  Story  of 
Windham's  resignation,  as  I  heard  it  at  Brighthelmstone," 
Pitt  wrote  to  W.  W.  Grenville,^  August  23,  1783,  "  sup- 
posed him  to  have  got  into  some  scrape  in  Borough 
transactions,  which  made  him  afraid  to  shew  his  face  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  It  did  not  come  from  the  best 
authority,  but  the  letter  I  recollect  hearing  of  at  Stowe 
made  me  think  it  not  improbable."  ^  Francis  Hardy 
declared  that  it  was  the  result  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant's 
patronage  being  distributed  in  favour  of  the  old  Court 
party.  Yet  another  account  gives  the  reason  that 
Windham  believed  in  Ireland  for  the  Irish,  and  gives  in 
support  of  this  contention  that  when  a  clergyman  came 
to  Windham  with  a  letter  from  Burke,  the  Chief  Secretary 
"  assured  the  gentleman  he  should  be  happy  to  present 
a  person  so  strongly  recommended  by  Mr.  Burke  with  a 
much  greater  piece  of  preferment  than  that  requested  ; 

1  Quoted  by  Amyot,  "  Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  i8. 

2  William  Wyndham  Grenville  (1759-1834),  Chief  Secretary  for 
Ireland,  1782-3  ;  created  Baron  Grenville,  1790  ;  held  high  ministerial 
offices,  and  was  chief  of  the  "  All  the  Talents  "  ministry. 

3  Fortescue  MSS.,  i.  218. 


34  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

but  that  it  was  his  fixed  determination  ...  to  give  every 
place  in  his  power  to  Irishmen  ;  as  he  had  long  been 
persuaded  that  the  natives  had  the  best  right  to  the 
bread  of  their  own  land."  ^  Burke's  letter,^  however j 
was  to  ask  Windham  to  secure  for  the  Rev.  Richard 
Marlay,  Dean  of  Ferns,  the  post  of  second  chaplain  to  the 
Lord-Lieutenant.  Windham's  reasons  for  resigning  are 
set  out  at  length  in  the  following  correspondence,  in  which 
it  will  be  seen  that  an  attack  of  fever  gave  him  the  excuse 
to  retire  from  a  position  where  he  was  worried  to  death  by 
the  numerous  applications  for  the  exercise  of  patronage. 
The  fact  that  a  dissolution  was  imminent  and  that  he 
desired  to  enter  Parliament  was  not  without  weight, 
too,  in  determining  his  action.  He  did  not,  however, 
as  his  letters  show,  definitely  make  up  his  mind  to  retire 
until  he  was  on  a  visit  to  London  in  July. 

William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

London,  July  16,  1783 

It  seems  odd  to  say  that  in  the  whole  circle  of  my 
correspondence  as  Secretary  I  have  had  no  letter  so  un- 
pleasant to  write  as  that  which  I  am  now  addressing  to 
you.  I  could  better  have  undertaken  to  acquaint  the 
Provost  that  his  peerage  had  failed  than  I  can  state  to 
you  what  I  am  now  about  to  communicate.  The  subject 
will  undoubtedly  surprise  you  ;  I  cannot  wish  it  should 
please  you  ;  but  I  hope  and  trust  it  will  create  no  other 
uneasiness  than  that  of  temporary  regret.  Before  I 
explain  a  matter  introduced  with  this  exordium,  let  me 
acquit  myself  of  the  levity  of  having  acted  from  any 
momentary  impulse,  or  of  the  disingenuity  of  having 
concealed  from  you  what  I  had  long  determined  in  my 
own  mind.     With  respect  to  the  first  I  can  assure  you 

1  Quoted  by  Amyot,  "  Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  19. 
-  Dated  May  5,  1783.     See  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  2 


1783]  REASONS  FOR  RESIGNATION  35 

that  the  matter  has  been  a  subject  of  frequent  and  anxious 
thought,  and  if  I  have  hitherto  said  nothing,  the  reason 
has  been,  not  a  want  of  openness  towards  you,  but  a 
disposition  to  wait  the  issue  of  further  trial  and  to  defer 
the  decision  to  the  last  moment.  The  present  measure 
of  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  forces  an  immediate 
determination,  and  upon  the  fullest  deliberation,  and  the 
utmost  trial  that  the  case  will  admit,  I  must  decide  against 
continuing  in  my  present  situation. 

Of  this  decision  the  first  circumstance  which  I  am 
anxious  to  explain  is,  that  it  is  not  the  result  of  that 
general  dislike  and  impatience  with  the  extent  of  which 
you  are  well  acquainted,  and  the  force  of  which  you  feel 
equally  with  myself.  These  feehngs,  though  very  good 
reasons  for  not  accepting,  are  more  for  relinquishing  such 
a  situation.  It  does  not  proceed  either  in  any  great  degree 
from  an  objection  to  that  which  must  be  considered 
however,  as  sufficiently  objectionable,  the  sed[entary] 
work  that  makes  the  greater  part  of  a  secretary's  em- 
ployment, so  much  worse  than  what  used  to  be  the 
business  of  Mr.  Robinson,^  as  an  Irish  House  of  Commons 
is  worse  than  an  English  one.  The  real  ground  of  my 
determination  is  my  conviction  that  the  bodily  infirmity, 
brought  on  by  the  life  I  must  lead,  and  the  business  I  must 
go  through,  will  for  the  time  so  oppress  and  incapacitate 
me,  as  to  render  me  totally  incapable  of  discharging  the 
duties  of  the  situation  either  with  credit  to  myself  or 
advantage  to  the  Government.  People  of  different  degrees 
of  strength  will  be  differently  affected  by  the  same 
situations  ;  and  of  persons  equally  affected  in  body 
some  will  find  their  minds  more  disturbed  by  such  indis- 
position and  their  faculties  more  impaired  than  others. 
Of  this  latter  species  of  infirmity  few  persons  I  believe 
have  so  much  as  myself  ;  and  from  my  experience  of 
the  effects  of  this  in  the  last  five  weeks,  I  am  persuaded 

1  John  Robinson  (172 7- 1802),  the  confidential  agent  of  the  King  and 
Lord  North,  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  1770- 1782 


36  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

that  my  state  during  a  parliament  winter  must  be  such 
as  I  have  described.  A  life  of  close  confinement,  con- 
stant application,  anxious  thought,  and  late  hours  in  hot 
rooms,  is  what  I  am  satisfied  I  cannot  stand,  by  which 
expression  I  do  not  refer  to  such  illness  as  is  to  endanger 
life,  or  ruin  constitution.  If  the  evil  were  of  that  sort 
only,  it  would  be  one's  duty  perhaps  to  take  one's  chance 
for  it  ;  but  the  apprehension  is  of  that  equivocal  and 
intermediate  state,  which  in  a  situation  where  every 
exertion  is  wanted,  would  deprive  me  at  once  of  the 
powers  of  health  and  of  the  excuse  of  sickness. 

If  there  ever  was  a  person  in  any  situation  who  needed 
to  have  all  his  faculties  about  him,  it  is  myself  in  the 
situation  I  am  in  ;  first,  from  the  difficulty  of  the  under- 
taking itself,  then,  from  my  own  entire  want  of  prepara- 
tion ;  and,  finally,  from  the  foolish  expectation  of  some 
people,  of  the  figure  I  am  to  make.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  behoves  me  well  to  consider  in  what  state  I 
shall  be  to  contend  with  these  difficulties,  supply  these 
deficiencies,  and  satisfy  these  expectations.  I  am  far 
from  thinking  that  my  prospects  in  these  respects  would 
be  very  good,  supposing  me  even  to  possess  all  the 
advantages  of  perfect  health  :  but  what  can  it  then  be 
considered,  when  even  the  state  in  which  I  have  been 
for  some  time  past  must  probably  exceed  so  far  what  I 
am  to  look  to  in  future  ?  You  may  have  been  witness  in 
some  measure  of  the  fits  of  languor  and  debility  which  I 
frequently  experience  :  but  no  one  but  myself  can  judge 
of  the  effect  they  have  on  any  exercise  of  the  under- 
standing. They  have  at  various  times  rendered  me 
incapable  of  the  business,  such  even  as  it  has  been 
hitherto.  What  then  is  to  become  of  me,  when  my 
powers  are  hkely  to  fail  in  the  same  proportion  as  the 
business  increases  ?  This  is  not  the  language  of  momen- 
tary despondency,  nor  the  consequence,  as  you  may  be 
apt  to  suspect,  of  the  attack  mentioned  in  my  former  letter 
— quite  the  contrary.     I  argue  to  the  effect  of  my  situa- 


1783]         ON  HIS  POSSIBLE  SUCCESSOR  37 

tion  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  from  the  difference 
of  my  feeHngs  for  some  days  past.  After  the  sickness 
of  the  passage,  the  journey  through  Wales  and  a  dose 
or  two  of  physick  I  am  a  different  being  from  what  I 
was  ten  days  ago,  or  shall  be  probably  ten  days  hence. 
The  idea  of  Flood's  ^  oratory  has  at  this  moment 
no  terrors,  but  I  know  to  what  state  a  fortnight  of  the 
business  and  confinement  of  the  Castle  will  infallibly  re- 
duce me.  Do  not  consider  these,  therefore,  as  idle  appre- 
hensions founded  on  such  inequalities  as  every  one  ex- 
periences in  himself,  and  the  mere  effect  of  the  moment. 
They  are  the  result  of  frequent  observation  of  myself  at 
various  times  ;  and  upon  these,  as  well  as  more  recent 
experience,  and  after  weighing  the  difficulty  of  the 
business,  my  own  comparative  strength,  when  at  its  best, 
and  the  impaired  state  in  which  it  is  hkely  to  be  at  the 
time  of  trial,  I  am  settled  in  opinion  that  the  best  thing 
I  can  do,  either  in  prudence  to  myself,  or  in  justice  to 
those  with  whom  I  am  connected,  is  to  withdraw  in  time 
from  the  situation. 

Though  I  can  believe  from  your  friendship,  and  from 
the  footing  on  which  we  have  been,  that  you  will  feel 
concerned  at  this,  yet  you  have,  possibly  before  this,  so 
far  come  over  to  my  opinion  about  myself  as  to  regret  the 
loss  of  a  pleasant  associate  rather  than  of  an  able  assistant. 
My  uneasiness  at  present  at  the  thought  of  creating  to 
you  any  new  distress  prevails  so  much  over  my  owti 
vanity  that  I  feel  great  comfort  in  that  assurance.  The 
reaUty  of  the  fact  convinces  me  that  you  must  by  this 
time  feel  that,  for  the  ofhce  of  Secretary,  there  are  within 
the  land  five  hundred  as  good  as  me.  To  one  person,  who 
might  be  thought  of  this  number,  but  whom  I  know 
you  would  not  include  in  it,  namely,  Townshend,  I  have 
already  mentioned  your  objections  to  the  Duke  of  Portland 

1  Henry  Flood  (1732-1791),  the  Irish  statesman,  at  that  time  in 
opposition  to  the  Government,  and  in  league  with  Grattan  to  secure 
the  independence  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 


38  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

— the  Duke  of  Portland,  by  the  way,  is  the  only  person 
whatever  to  whom  I  have  yet  communicated  the  purport 
of  this  letter,  with  a  request  of  secrecy,  till  he  should 
hear  from  you  or  me.  He  said  what  you  may  suppose, 
from  his  sentiments  before,  and  which  nothing  but 
strong  previous  determination  and  experience  of  former 
weakness,  enabled  me  to  resist.  I  have  great  confidence 
in  the  belief  that  you  think  of  me  with  respect  to  my 
present  situation  so  much  as  I  do  of  myself,  that  this  letter 
will  not  communicate  to  you  any  part  of  the  pain  which 
it  has  occasioned  to  me.  I  shall  of  course  return  to  you, 
and  the  moment  I  have  executed  the  few  things  I  had  to 
do,  which  I  think  will  be  on  Saturday  next.^ 


William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

Brooks's  :  July  17,  1783 

My  letter  last  night,  sent  by  the  messenger,  left  me  so 
unpleasant  that  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  write  on  any 
other  subject,  or  to  send  you,  as  I  had  intended,  the 
amount  of  my  proceedings  and  inquiries,  since  my 
letter  of  Monday  night.  With  respect  to  the  main  article, 
the  continuance  of  the  ministry,  I  find  no  person, — not 
having  as  yet  talked  with  either  of  the  persons  whose 
intelligence  was  sent  to  us  from  Conway — that  seems  to 
have  any  doubt  of  their  continuing  till  the  next  sessions. 
As  is  said  of  Filch  in  "  The  Beggar's  Opera,"  they  will 
stand  till  another  sessions.  The  chief  reasons  in  support 
of  this  opinion  are  that  the  King  wants  monej^  too  much 
to  promise  himself  much  success  in  the  creation  of  a  new 
parliament,  and  that  the  power  of  the  Crown  in  general, 
for  those  purposes,  has  been  so  abridged  by  Crewe's  bill  ^ 
that  the  same  hopes  cannot  be  entertained  from  that 
measure  as  formerly.     His  determination,  however,  not 

1  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  198. 

2  The  Bill  introduced  by   John,  afterwards  Baron,   Crewe   (1742- 
1829)  for  disfranchising  excise  officers,  1782. 


1783]  THE  KING'S  REFUSAL  39 

to  contribute  to  their  strength  or  render  them  at  all 
independent,  is  manifested  without  much  reserve  ;  for  he 
absolutely  refuses  to  make  any  English  peers.  Whether 
Lord  North  ^  is  to  be  an  exception  I  did  not  think  to 
inquire  ;  but  Welbore  Ellis's  ^  is  refused  ;  so  you  may 
imagine  no  one  else  has  much  chance.  Fox's  ^  opinion 
I  do  not  know,  not  having  seen  him  as  yet  to  talk  upon 
that  subject,  but  the  Duke  of  Portland  is  what  I  have  told 
you  ;  and  other  speculators  such  as  Hamilton,*  and  people 
of  that  sort,  concur  in  the  same  notion.  Let  me  mention 
now  all  the  other  matters  necessary  to  be  taken  notice 
of  as  they  come  into  my  head. — Lord  Carhampton's^  step 
was  positively  refused,  not  however  in  a  manner  harsh 
or  angry,  but  by  a  dextrous  turn  of  putting  the  refusal 
on  your  not  having  recommended  any  steps  in  the 
peerage.  Lord  North's  opinion  is  that  it  would  have 
been  equally  refused,  had  you  recommended  that  alone  ; 
but  would  have  passed  in  company  with  any  other. 

The  business  of  the  Staff,  &c.,  I  have  talked  over  with 
Burgoyne,**  who  was  not  aware  of  the  circumstance  of 
the  message  from  Lord  Townshend,  nor  seemed  to  have 
thought  before  of  the  necessity  of  confining  the  numbers 
precisely  to  those  limited  on  that  occasion  :  but  he  agrees 
to  the  necessity  of  both,  now  they  are  stated  ;  indeed  his 
proposal  for  the  staff  was  of  itself  perfectly  conformable 
to  the  message.  I  am  to  desire  also  my  Lord  North  to 
take  the  King's  pleasure  on  the  immediate  reduction  of 
the  staff,  except  as  to  his  own  pay,  about  which,  though  the 
exception  sounds  ridiculous,  his  wishes  and  opinions  are,  as 

1  Lord  North  (1732-1792),  Prime  Minister,  1770-1782;  succeeded  his 
father  as  (second)  Earl  of  Guilford,  1790. 

2  Welbore  Ellis  (171 3-1802),  created  Baron  Mendip  of  Mendip,  1794. 

3  Charles  James  Fox  (i  749-1 806),  at  this  time  Secretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs. 

4  Wilham  Gerard  Hamilton,  "  Single-speech  Hamilton  "  (1729-1796). 

5  Simon  Luttrell,  Viscount  Carhampton,  subsequently  created  Earl 
Carhampton  (died  1787). 

6  General  John  Burgoyne  (i  722-1 792),  at  this  time  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  forces  of  Ireland. 


40  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

upon  every  other  occasion,  perfectly  fair  and  liberal.  The 
circumstance  which  you  mention  (for  I  have  received 
your  letter)  of  the  troops  being  in  Ireland  before  the 
meeting  of  Parliament,  has  been  already  mentioned  to 
Conway,  but  must  be  enforced  again  by  me,  as  I  find  he 
shows  a  disposition  to  be  careless  about  it.  Clinton,^ 
when  I  last  saw  Lord  North,  was  understood  to  have 
refused  his  peerage,  not  being  able  to  succeed  as  to  being 
a  viscount,  which  the  King  refused  on  the  old  grounds  of 
not  granting  two  steps  at  once.  They  have  acted  rather 
scurvily  in  sending  over  so  many  as  they  have  done 
when  you  had  recommended  only  five. 

The  same  post  as  brought  me  your  letter  has  brought 
me  one  from  Ogle,^  written  with  civility,  but  with  much 
discontent.  He  begins  with  Dear  Sir,  but  ends  with 
having  the  honour  to  be.  The  footing  on  which  he  puts 
[it]  is  of  having  been  struck  out  of  the  Duke  of  Portland's 
list,  which  he  feels  as  a  marked  slight.  This  is  the  best 
ground  one  would  wish  him  to  put  it  upon  ;  because  it  is 
such  as  one  [can]  take  away  ;  by  stating  that  any  former 
recommendation  of  the  Duke's  was  not  onl}^  out  of  the 
question,  but  not  even  known.  I  conceive  one  shall 
be  able  to  set  him  right  again  ;  though  it  is  a  queer  thing 
that  almost  the  only  fair  and  honourable  man  should  be 
so  troublesome  to  deal  with.  The  Duke  of  Portland,  when 
I  talked  to  him  the  other  day,  seems  of  opinion  that  there 
would  have  been  [no]  difficulty  about  including  him,  or 
very  many  others  as  you  had  a  mind.  His  Majesty  seeming 
perfectly  disposed  to  consent  to  anything  in  Ireland,  while 
he  can  keep  his  ministry  low  at  home.  I  should  tell  you 
that  the  King  affects  to  speak  of  you  with  great  cordiality. 

This  letter  is  written  from  Brooks's,  where  I  am 
going  to  sup  for  the  first  time.  My  situation  here  begins 
to  have   as  little   repose    as    in    Dublin.     I  have   had 

1  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton  (1738  ?-i79S). 

2  (?)  George  Ogle  (1742-18 14),  Irish  politician,  who  opposed  Cathohc 
Emancipation,  and  after  the  Union  represented  DubUn  at  Westminster. 


jV.  Daft.  t\  pinx'. 


FREDERICK    NORTH. 


T.  HurkCy  sailpt. 
SECOND    EARL   OF    GUILFORD 


1783]       LORD  NORTHINGTON'S  REBUKE  41 

Clermont  1  with  me  half  the  day  about  the  riband  :  and 
finding  I  am  to  sup  here,  he  cannot  refrain  from  the 
satisfactio7i  of  being  of  the  party.  I  wish  you  were  here 
too,  and  the  whole  business  over.^ 

The  Earl  of  Northington  to  William  Windham 

Dublin  :  July,  1783 

As  your  letters  from  London  gave  me  reason  to  think 
that  your  departure  from  thence  was  to  take  place  before 
any  letter  from  me  could  possibly  reach  you,  I  had 
deferred,  of  course  in  expectation  of  your  return,  to  take 
any  notice  of  the  subject  of  these.  The  bad  accounts  of 
you  from  Oxford,  and  the  variety  of  complaints  which 
at  present  you  suffer  under,  and  the  slow  progress  made 
in  your  case,  leave  me  little  hope  of  seeing  you  soon, 
even  if  I  could  be  so  uncharitable  to  wish  you  to  under- 
take such  a  journey  at  the  moment  of  your  re-estabhsh- 
ment  from  such  severe  attacks. 

The  subject  of  your  letter  of  the  i6th  Inst.,  you 
may  readily  suppose,  afforded  me  no  less  surprise  than 
mortification.  That  a  measure  of  that  moment  in  which, 
next  to  yourself,  I  was  by  far  the  most  seriously  con- 
cerned, should  have  been  so  long  decided  upon  without 
any  communication  to  me  of  the  resolution  which  you 
had  taken,  did,  I  must  confess,  appear  to  me  a  sort  of 
conduct  which  my  frankness  of  behaviour  and  constant 
friendly  Intercourse  with  you  did  not  lead  me  to  expect 
from  your  hands.  Notwithstanding,  however,  this  appa- 
rent slight  of  me  (hurting  me  in  my  private  feelings,  and 
affecting  me  very  seriously  in  all  pubHck  points  of  con- 
sideration) I  am  willing  to  beheve,  because  I  wish  it,  that 
notions  of  delicacy  alone,  and  a  strong  feeHng  at  the 
time  of  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  the  step  you 
was  about  to  take  would  create  to  me,  were  alone  the 

1  William  Henry  Fortescue,  Earl  of  Clermont  (died  1806),  Post- 
master-General, and  M.P.  for  tlie  County  of  Louth. 

2  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  204. 


42  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

notions  which  led  to  the  concealment  of  your  purpose  at 
our  last  parting.  My  anxious  and  earnest  wishes  attend 
you  for  the  speedy  recovery  of  your  Health,  and  as  the 
most  likely  means  of  restoration,  I  desire  you  will  divest 
your  thoughts  of  a  Subject  which  I  am  sure  has  con- 
tributed most  to  your  present  unpleasant  state. 

Let  me,  therefore,  advise  you  to  drop  all  thoughts  of  a 
Return  to  Ireland.  Your  Return  has  been  doubted  ever 
since  your  departure,  your  disinclination  to  the  Business 
of  your  Department  had  not  escaped  the  Eagle-Eyed 
observers  of  the  Castle.  Their  conjectures  spread — gained 
ground  upon  your  non- Arrival,  and  became  to  a  certain 
degree  confirmed  by  a  whisper — ^Intelligence  from  General 
Lutterell.^  To  what  purpose  then  would  your  Return 
serve  ?  If  only  to  fulfill  an  engagement  of  a  point  of 
Honor  to  me,  and  to  keep  your  word,  I  cannot  be  so  devoid 
of  feeling  as  to  wish  you  in  your  present  state  to  attend 
to  such  an  engagement,  since  I  think  it  might  be  pro- 
ductive of  much  unpleasantness  and  mortification  to  you, 
and  could  be  no  further  of  service  to  me,  than  the  giving 
me  a  Detail  of  the  Conversations  you  have  had  with  the 
Duke  of  Portland  and  Fox  upon  many  interesting  subjects 
during  your  stay  in  Town. 

This  communication  may,  however,  be  given  me  nearly 
as  well,  if  I  draw  out  a  short  account  of  what  you  have 
already  sent  me,  and  desire  you  to  add  to  it  what  upon 
further  recollection  may  suggest  itself  to  you.  This  I  will 
either  send  at  the  same  time  this  letter  goes  or  just  after. 

I  have  not  been  well  myself  for  these  last  three  or  four 
days — and  I  am  now  without  even  Hamilton,  who  has 
been  with  the  Bishop  of  Clogher  upon  his  Election.  You 
may  be  sure  from  your  knowledge  of  the  Enemy,  that 
without  any  of  these  advance  Guards  to  intercept,  the 
Castle  and  the  Lodge  have  had  a  continual  Assail. — I  am 
vexed  therefore,  tired  and  continually  importuned ;    but 

1  Henry  Lawes  Luttrell  (1743-1821);     Major-General   1782;    suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  (second)  Earl  Carhampton  1787. 


1783]  THE  PONSONBYS  IN  ARMS  43 

none  of  these  distress  and  disturb  me  equally  with  the 
silly  sort  of  conduct  of  our  worthy  friend  in  Downing 
Street  [the  Duke  of  Portland]  with  regard  to  his  Irish 
connections.  What  does  he  mean  ?  Is  it  to  disgust 
me  with  my  Situation  ?  God  knows  it  is  not  so  very 
desireable  but  what  a  man  would  be  happy  to  find  an 
honorable  Cause  of  retirement  !  If  he  wishes  me  to 
continue  by  a  mistaken  partiality  to  a  Post  he  is 
marring  the  Harvest  of  my  Government  which  is  to  be 
reaped  by  the  whole  of  his  friends.  But  such,  I  find,  if 
an  explanation  does  not  ensue,  at  least  I  am  to  expect,  such 
sort  of  Attempts  will  be  made  to  carry  points  in  the  teeth 
of  Government  here,  which  if  they  prove  successful 
must  overturn  the  Power  of  any  Government  here.^ 

William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

July  22,  1783 

.  .  .  The  Duke  of  Portland  sent  for  me  last  night  and  in- 
formed me  that  all  the  Ponsonby's  were  in  arms.  By  his 
desire  I  called  this  morning  on  William  Ponsonby,^  and 
found  him  in  a  state  of  agitation  hardly  less  than  that  of 
Clements,^  and  of  a  sort  much  more  ferocious.  In  the 
course  of  conversation,  however,  I  thought  I  had  rather 
subdued  him  ;  but  on  coming  home  this  evening  I  find 
a  letter,  in  which  he  says  that  on  reflection  he  cannot 
help  seeing  the  transaction  in  the  same  light  as  at  first, 
and  that  the  only  reparation  for  the  marked  slight  put 
upon  all  his  family  (by  not  recommending  O'Callaghan)* 
would  be  immediately  to  make  good  the  omission.  With- 
out this  atonement  he  and  all  his  people  are  to  go  into 
opposition.     In  his  conversation  with  the  Duke  he  had 

1  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  533. 

2  William  Brabazon  Ponsonby  (i  744-1 806),  member  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  from  1764  ;  appointed  joint  Postmaster-General  of  Ire- 
land ;   created  Baron  Ponsonby  1806. 

3  Robert  Clements  (1732-1804),  afterwards  first  Earl  of  Leitrim. 

*  Cornelius  O'Callaghan  (1742- 1797),  afterwards  first  Baron  Lismore. 
He  married  Frances,  the  sister  of  William,  Lord  Ponsonby. 


44  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

extricated  a  regular  list  of  charges  against  you  and  me, 
either  jointly  or  separately.  One  was  of  general  neglect 
of  the  Ponsonby's  ;  another  of  my  having  on  the  day 
of  my  going  declined  to  see  old  Ponsonby/  and  having 
neglected  afterwards  to  send  him  any  excuse  (the 
same  may  be  said  by  every  one  who  called  that  day)  ; 
the  third,  the  difficulty  about  the  Deanery  ;  and  the 
fourth,  last  and  heaviest,  the  refusal  of  O'Callaghan's 
peerage.  On  all  these  charges  I  met  him,  I  think,  with 
sufficient  success,  and  upon  the  whole  seemed  to  have 
silenced  his  battery  :  but  he  has  mounted  his  guns 
anew,  and  the  engagement  recommences  with  the  menace 
I  have  just  stated.  My  answer  will  be  that  I  can  give  no 
answer  in  your  absence,  but  that,  in  my  own  opinion, 
no  injury  is  proved  requiring  such  reparation.  George 
Ponsonby,^  as  he  says,  has  sent  over  his  resignation.  It 
would  have  been  more  in  course  if  he  had  given  it  to  you. 
He  complained  heavily  of  the  bargain  attempted  to  be 
made  for  the  Deanery  of  Ossory,  which  I  defended  ; 
though  I  rather  believe  the  matter  had  better  be  yielded 
at  once  ;  as  I  meant  to  have  observed  previous  to  this 
conversation  ;  but  it  may  now  be  matter  of  consideration 
whether  this  threat  held  out  should  not  be  required  first  to 
be  withdrawn. 

The  terms  insisted  on  by  Mrs.  Grenville  I  don't  under- 
stand. Nothing  passed  between  her  and  me  but  what  is 
known  to  Cooke, ^  viz. :  that  there  must  be  no  return  for 
her  borough  of  a  person  not  to  continue  there,  and  that 
she  rather  expected  2000/  English,  but  should   take  the 

1  John  Ponsonby  (1713-1789),  father  of  WiUiam  (afterwards  Baron) 
Ponsonby  ;   Speaker  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  (1756-1771). 

2  George  Ponsonby  (1757-1817),  third  son  of  John  Ponsonby,  was 
Irish  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  during  the  vice-royalty  of  the  Duke 
of  Portland,  1782,  In  1806,  under  the  Fox-Grenville  administration, 
he  was  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland. 

3  Edward  Cooke  (1755-1820)  went  to  Ireland  in  1778  as  private 
secretary  to  Sir  Richard  Heron,  Chief  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant. 
At  this  time  he  held  some  minor  official  post  in  Ireland.  In  later  years 
he  returned  to  England,  was  in  1807  Under-Secretary  for  War,  and 
1812-1817  Under-Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs. 


1783]  DOMESTIC  DETAILS  45 

best  I  could  get  for  her,  provided  it  was  not  less  than  the 
estabished  market  price. 

The  stocks  fall  very  much,  v^^ithout  any  reason  assigned 
except  the  great  scarcity  of  money,  ovi^ing  very  much 
to  the  high  price  of  gold  in  Holland,  which  has  occasioned 
great  quantities  of  coin  to  be  carried  out  of  the  kingdom. 
Much  has  been  smuggled  from  the  coast  of  Norfolk.^ 

William  Windham  to  The  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham  2 

Salt  Hill :    August  11,  1783 

I  came  hither  last  night  from  Oxford  ,  .  .  not  without 
some  hopes,  though  unknown  possibly  to  you,  of  your 
coming  at  the  same  time.  .  .  .  Should  it  be  inconvenient 
to  you  to  meet  me  here,  I  will,  if  you  wish  it,  take  the 
very  first  opportunity  of  coming  to  London  :  in  the 
mean  while,  any  information  which  you  may  wish  from 
me  shall  be  communicated  as  fully  as  can  be  done  by 
letter  ;  and,  without  waiting  your  inquiries,  I  will  myself 
suggest  anything  which  may  occur  to  me  as  useful  for 
you  to  know.  Under  this  head,  I  may  immediately 
mention  some  articles,  of  small  consequence  in  themselves; 
yet  equally  trying  and  vexatious  with  things  of  greater 
importance.  I  mean  all  that  relates  to  Household 
establishment.  Of  these  the  articles  are  not  numerous; 
though  some  of  them  expensive — Plate,  Chariot,  Coach- 
horses  and  Liveries.  Plate  is  not  absolutely  necessary, 
but  is  upon  the  whole  more  eligible,  and  as  you  need  not 
be  sollicitous  about  the  fashion,  but  may  buy  it  at  second 
hand,  will,  I  understand,  answer  better  in  point  of 
economy.  For  a  chariot,  any  decent  Town-chariot,  a 
little  vamped  up,  will,  I  apprehend,  do  perfectly  well; 
particularly  as  you  will  have  had  such  short  notice. 
Coach-horses  you  had  better  buy  here,  ready  broke  and 

1  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  215. 

2  The  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham,  afterwards  second  Earl  of  Chichester 
(1756-1826),  succeeded  Windham  as  Chief  Secretary  to  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 


46  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

seasoned  from  the  Job  men  :  and  these,  if  good,  will,  I 
find,  at  any  time  sell  without  loss  in  the  country  :  you 
must  have  a  set.  Of  the  livery  you  will  order  the  lace 
and  buttons  here,  and  take  the  cloth  there.  There  must 
be  frock  liveries  and  state,  each  of  them  such  as  you 
would  make,  under  the  same  description,  here.  With 
respect  to  horses,  should  you  not  be  able  to  get  a  set 
easily  and  to  your  mind  before  you  go,  you  may  take 
the  same  method  as  was  recommended  to  me,  and  was 
followed  by  me,  for  the  time  I  staid,  namely,  to  hire  jobs, 
which,  under  the  plea  of  want  of  time  for  preparation, 
you  may  probably  continue,  without  notice  being  taken 
of  it,  during  the  whole  time.  Of  servants  you  will 
want  four  immediately  in  livery,  including  the  porter,  who 
remains  under  all  changes.  These  you  must  take  from 
England,  unless  you  have  a  mind  to  take  one  or  two  of 
mine,  and  they  are  willing  to  stay.  A  Coachman  and 
postillion  you  will  find  there  also,  but  I  would  advise  you 
by  no  means  to  take  them,  but  at  wages  vastly  less  than 
they  received  from  me,  and  if  you  have  any  coachman 
of  whom  you  have  a  good  opinion,  to  take  him  at  once. 

One  of  the  most  material  concerns  is  a  good  maitre 
d'Hotel ;  and  in  this  article  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to 
assist  you,  at  least  for  the  present,  should  you  not 
otherwise  be  provided,  by  leaving  with  you  for  some  time 
my  servant,  who  was  recommended  to  me  by  Sir  Richard 
Heron,!  and  whom  I  found  so  far  as  I  had  experience  of 
him,  a  most  diligent,  trustworthy  and  intelligent  servant. 
If  he  can  be  of  any  use,  he  shall  remain  with  you  as  long 
as  you  wish. — ^All  other  articles  of  estabhshment  you  will 
either  find  upon  the  spot,  or  can  easily  provide.  There  is 
a  set  of  desert  china,  which  was  bought  for  me  at  a  sale 
just  before  I  came  away,  and  which  they  tell  me  are 
very  handsome.  These  you  may  have,  if  you  please,  at 
the  same  price  they  cost  me,  or,  if  you  think  that  some 

1  Sir  Richard  Heron  (1726-1805),  Chdef-Secretary  to  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant,  John,  Earl  of  Buckinghamshire,  1 776-1 779. 


1783]  A  JUSTIFICATION  47 

abatement  should  be  made,  at  such  a  price  as  shall  be 
deemed  reasonable.  Other  odd  matters,  which  you  will 
wish  probably  to  take  from  me,  will  go  by  appraisement  : 
but  these  are  of  small  amount. 

Having  run  through  these  few  things,  which,  though 
least  in  consequence,  are  perhaps  first  in  order,  I  will 
neither  detain  you  nor  delay  my  letter  any  longer,  than 
to  say  that,  being  persuaded  you  will  not  feel  those 
objections  to  the  office,  either  from  health,  temper  or 
peculiarity  of  habit  that  I  do,  I  most  sincerely  rejoice  at 
your  acceptance  of  it,  principally  because  it  relieves  me 
from  all  apprehension  of  inconvenience  that  might  be 
occasioned  by  my  retirement.  Without  any  affected 
modesty  about  myself,  or  insincere  compliment  to  you, 
I  assure  you  I  think  the  interests  of  the  present  admin- 
istration, to  which  I  am  happy  to  think  we  are  now 
united  in  wishing  well,  will  not  only  suffer  no  prejudice 
but  gain  considerably  by  the  exchange.  Consider  that  I 
really  think  my  constitution  not  sufficiently  good  ;  no 
one  does  well  what  he  does  with  an  ill  will.* 


William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

Oxford  :  ^    August  15,  1783 

After  the  receipt  of  your  most  friendly  letter,  I  shall  feel 
every  hour  long  till  this  letter  reaches  you,  not  only  to 
say  how  much  your  kindness  affects  me,  but  to  acquit 
myself  of  a  charge,  of  all  others  most  painful  to  me,  and 
which  is  rendered  doubly  sensible  by  your  very  gentle 
and  tender  manner  of  urging  it.  Let  me  be  suspected  of 
anything  rather  than  of  having  been  intentionally  wanting 
in  candour  and  attention  towards  you.  Whatever  may 
be  my  faults,  reserve  and  duplicity  are  not  of  the  number  ; 
or  if  any  such  qualities  had  place  in  my  composition,  this 
would  have  been  the  last  occasion  on  which  they  would 

^  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  252. 

2  After  his  illness  Windham  resided  for  some  time  at  Oxford 


48  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

have  shewn  themselves.  Nobody  could  be  more  sensible 
that  your  conduct  to  me  called  for  every  possible  return 
of  confidence  and  attention  :  nor  has  anything  given  me 
more  pain  than  the  appearance,  which  I  felt  I  incurred,  of 
acting  in  a  way  not  conformable  to  those  sentiments. 

Two  ideas  might  naturally  strike  your  mind,  each  of 
them  making  a  very  reasonable  ground  of  complaint : 
either  that  I  had  secretly  resolved  on  what  I  should  do; 
at  the  time  I  took  my  leave  of  you,  and  had  concurred  in 
the  proposal  of  going  to  England,  as  a  convenient  oppor- 
tunity of  declaring  it :  or  that  I  deferred  finally  to  make  up 
my  mind  upon  the  subject  till  I  should  have  consulted 
the  Duke  of  Portland.  I  do  assure  you  that  neither  of 
these  was  the  fact.  I  neither  knew,  at  the  moment  I 
parted  from  you,  what  I  should  do  :  nor  had  I  an  idea, 
should  the  resolution  be  taken,  of  communicating  it 
except  to  yourself  at  my  return.  That  I  should  forbear 
to  say  anything,  till  the  matter  was  absolutely  decided, 
can  easily  be  conceived.  The  question  was  of  a  sort 
which  I  nmst  determine  for  myself ;  the  task  of  intimating 
such  an  intention  was  not  so  pleasant  as  that  one  would 
wish  to  undergo  it  unnecessarily  :  and  I  was  too  well 
acquainted  with  my  own  weakness  in  resisting  the  argu- 
ments of  those  for  whom  I  had  a  regard,  to  hazard  the 
mention  of  such  a  purpose,  till  I  could  resolve  that  it 
must  at  all  events  take  place.  I  had  nothing  to  do, 
therefore,  but  to  endeavour  by  a  careful  estimate  of  all 
circumstances  of  health,  liking  and  ability — considering 
the  two  former  chiefly  as  they  affected  the  latter — to  make 
up  my  own  mind  upon  the  subject :  to  accomplish  which 
was  no  easy  task  :  one's  sentiments  varying  almost 
every  twelve  hours,  according  as  a  night  passed  at  the 
Phoenix  Park  gave  one  a  feel  of  strength  and  confidence, 
or  the  confinement  of  a  day  in  the  Castle  brought  on  such 
languor,  weariness  and  disgust  as  sunk  one  into  absolute 
despair. 

In  this  state  of  uncertainty  I  took  my  leave  of  you. 


1783]  WHY  WINDHAM  RESIGNED  49 

thinking  that  a  fortnight  was  yet  left  me  for  dehberation, 
while  in  the  meantime  the  journey  would  afford  me 
opportunities  of  discussing  the  question  more  coolly  and 
connectedly  than  was  possible  in  Dublin,  and  at  the  same 
time  furnish  me  with  a  new  datum,  by  ascertaining  the 
chance  of  release,  by  a  dissolution  of  the  ministry.  The 
idea  of  the  letter  I  afterwards  wrote  to  you,  on  the 
mention  of  the  matter  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  had  never 
entered  my  mind.  As  to  the  person  to  whom  such  a 
communication  was  first  due,  it  would  never  have  been 
a  question  with  me,  not  only  in  point  of  what  may  be 
called  official  propriety,  but  because  the  effect  which 
it  was  too  likely  to  have  in  embarrassing  you,  was  the 
circumstance  so  much  uppermost  in  my  thoughts.  To 
confess  the  truth,  it  was  the  only  circumstance  that  very 
materially  distressed  me  :  for  though  I  have  the  greatest 
esteem,  regard  and  attachment  to  the  Duke  of  Portland, 
and  that  I  could  never  disappoint  his  wishes  without 
pain,  yet  the  circumstances  attending  my  acceptance  of  this 
office  had  been  so  peculiar,  my  disinclination  had  been 
so  strongly  marked,  and  the  importunity  by  which  that 
was  overcome  was  so  near  what  might  be  called  unfair, 
that  I  by  no  means  felt  the  same  obligation  to  consult  his 
inclinations,  as  I  should  upon  any  other  occasion.  A 
conversation  had  accordingly  passed  with  him,  without 
my  uttering  a  word  upon  the  subject ;  as  indeed  it  would 
have  done,  independent  of  that  consideration,  unless  I 
had  resolved  on  writing  to  you. 

What  brought  on  the  measure  so  suddenly,  and  com- 
pelled an  immediate  decision,  was  the  reflexion  which 
from  strange  inadvertence  I  had  not  before  made,  that 
my  option  of  a  seat  in  the  new  Parliament  would  not  stand 
over  till  the  return  of  the  writs  but  must  determine 
the  instant  of  my  election  ;  that  the  resolution  therefore 
must  be  taken  immediately  or  not  at  all.  When  I  had 
settled  to  write  to  you,  I  then  thought  it  best  to  mention 
it  to  the  Duke  of  Portland  for  the  sake  of  saving  time, 

I  D 


50  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

requesting,  however,  that  till  he  should  hear  from  you, 
it  might  remain  an  entire  secret,  and  not  intending  that 
he  should  speak  of  it,  even  to  Fox.  Possibly  in  that 
restriction  I  might  have  been  wrong,  as  the  same  purpose 
that  induced  the  mention  of  it  to  the  Duke  of  Portland 
made  it  desirable  that  Fox  also  should  be  acquainted 
with  it. 

This  is  a  faithful  representation  of  the  progress  of  the 
business  as  it  passed  in  my  mind.     The  measure  itself  has 
been  sufficiently  distressing  to  me,  without  the  aggrava- 
tion of  having  added  to  it  an  appearance  of  contrivance 
and  stratagem.     What  struck  me  most  and  could  least 
be  got  over,  was  the  idea  of  leaving  you,  as  it  were,  in 
the  lurch,  of  deserting  you  in  the  midst  of  difficulties  on 
which  we  had  entered  together,  and  effecting  my  own 
escape,  without  regarding  those  I  left  behind.     My  only 
consolation  was  that  by  consulting  my  own  ease  and 
comfort,   I   hoped   I   should  not   make   your  condition 
worse  ;   and  that  my  sharing  your  plagues  and  vexations 
could  contribute  little  to  relieve  them,  but  this  reflexion 
would  lose  much  of  its  efficacy,  if  I  had  not  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  my  place  supplied  by  such  a  man  as  Pelham. 
I  know  but  very  few  men  who  are  so  fit  for  the  situation, 
and  I  know  none  with  whom  I  conceive  and  hope  you 
will  find  yourself  so  much  at  your  ease.     I  have  upon  this 
occasion  great  pleasure  in  thinking  that  you  will  never 
feel  a  moment's  regret  of  me.     I  must  make  haste  now 
and  finish  my  letter,  having  been  delayed  by  some  visitors 
this  morning  till  I  am  in  danger  of   being   too   late  for 
the  cross  post.     By  an  unfortunate  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances, I  did  not  receive  yours  till  last  night.     I  had 
gone  for  a  night  to  Salt  Hill,  in  order  to  meet  Pelham,  but 
by  a  delay  in  the  receipt  of  letters,  was  detained  there 
too,  and    have  come  back  not  quite  so  well  as  I  went. 
I  am  to  meet  him  however  if    I    can  next  Monday  in 
London ;    when,  if  I  get  your  letter  with  the  Queries 
you    mention,    I    may   answer    them  more    completely 


1783]         RETIRES  INTO  PRIVATE  LIFE  51 

by   further   conversation   with    the   Duke    of    Portland 
and  Fox. 

As  Pelham  purposes  to  set  off  within  a  fortnight,  to 
which  both  for  his  own  sake  as  well  as  yours  I  shall  urge 
him  strongly,  I  will  without  further  hesitation  follow 
the  advice  which  you  so  kindly  urge,  and  drop  all  thoughts 
of  returning  to  Ireland  :  I  should  have  had  some  satisfac- 
tion, as  far  as  a  trifling  motive  goes,  in  returning  there,  if 
it  were  only  to  mar  the  self-complacency  of  those  who 
will  now  pretend  to  have  foreseen  that  I  never  meant  to 
return  ;  but  this  is  not  much  worth  thinking  on.  I  wish 
I  could  as  easily  follow  your  advice  in  divesting  myself  of 
all  other  anxieties  in  that  quarter  ;  which  I  shall  not  do  till 
I  hear  things  are  more  settled  and  in  a  prosperous  train  ;  I 
might  say,  till  you  are  out  of  the  country.  I  shall  have  an 
interest  in  your  success,  not  less  personal  than  if  I  had  still 
continued  a  party  ;  for  every  difficulty  in  which  you  are 
involved,  I  shall  feel  as  reproaching  me  for  leaving  you. 
It  is  well  for  me  that  matters  were  so  settled  before  I  got 
your  letter ;  for  otherwise  the  very  kind  and  handsome 
manner  in  which  you  there  express  yourself  would  in- 
fallibly have  brought  me  back  to  the  situation,  whatever 
miseries  it  might  have  cost  me.  I  will  now  take  my 
leave  of  you  for  the  present,  by  observing  that  for  the 
whole  of  this  business,  anxious  as  it  has  been,  I  shall 
think  myself  well  repaid  by  the  privilege  which  I  derive 
from  thence,  of  assuring  you  that  I  am,  with  the  greatest 
truth,  my  dear  Lord, 

most  sincerely  and  affectionately  yours, 

W.  Windham.^ 

William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

Oxford  :  August  26,  1783 

I   cannot   depart   my    ofl&cial   life,   without   charging 

Pelham,  as  my  heir  and  executor,  to  be  the   bearer  of 

1  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  262. 


52  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

my  last  farewell  to  you.  I  meant  to  have  had  a  number 
of  letters  ready  agamst  his  arrival ;  but  by  the  same 
indolent  procrastination  that  in  Lord  North  ruined  an 
empire,  and  in  me,  had  I  continued  where  I  was,  would 
have  been  productive  of  a  thousand  distresses,  I  have 
left  them  all  undone,  and  can  only  write  these  few  lines 
to  you,  to  be  sent  to  him  before  I  am  up.  I  don't  know 
anything  I  have  to  say,  till  1  shall  receive  your  queries 
to  the  Duke  of  Portland. 

The  more  I  see  of  Pelham,  the  more  I  am  satisfied  with 
his  being  my  successor.  He  seems  to  set  about  his 
business  in  a  composed,  methodical  manner,  to  apply 
his  mind  readily  to  the  work,  to  form  very  good  judg- 
ments and  to  be  perfectly  vigilant  and  discreet.^  ... 

William  Windham  to  John  Coxe  Hippisley  ^ 

Oxford  :    September  16,  1783 

It  seems  a  strange  time  to  begin  a  letter  to  India,  when 
the  post  is  within  half  an  hour  of  setting  out  :  but  I 
must  write  now,  or  I  shall  miss  the  opportunity  they  tell 
me  of  the  next  packet.  How  shall  I  comprize  in  so 
short  a  compass  an  account  even  of  my  own  history  ? 
Let  me  tell  you  at  once,  that  in  the  course  of  five  little 
months  since  I  wrote  last,  I  have  been  in  the  responsible 
office  of  Secretary  to  the  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland  ; 
and  that  I  am  now  returned  again  to  the  condition  of 
a  private  man.  This,  perhaps,  need  not  surprize  you  in 
one  respect,  as  we  have  seen  whole  Ministries  change  in  as 
short  a  period  :  but  happily  that  has  not  been  the  case 
in  the  present  instance.  The  abstract  of  my  history  is, 
that  I  undertook  the  office  much  against  my  will,  having 
been  formerly  in  the  country,  and  being  well  acquainted 
with  the  unpleasant  nature  of  the  business  ;   and  finding, 

^  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  290. 

2  John  Coxe  Hippisley  (1748-1825),  Agent  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment in  Italy,  1779-80  ;  afterwards  in  the  East  India  Company's 
service;   created  i»aronet,  1796. 


1783]  AN  EXPLANATION  53 

upon  trial,  that  the  liking  did  not  increase,  and  that 
my  health  suffered,  I  took  the  opportunity  of  a  fever, 
that  attacked  me  during  an  absence  on  some  business  in 
England,  and  before  I  was  elected  into  the  new  Parha- 
ment,  and  while  my  resignation  could  not  be  attended 
with  much  embarrassment  to  Government,  withdrew 
from  a  situation,  which  was  too  little  suited  either  to 
my  talents  or  temper,  to  admit  a  hope  of  my  filling  it 
with  credit.  I  am  now,  therefore,  returned  to  my  privacy, 
with  a  greater  enjoyment  of  it  than  ever,  though  possibly 
not  so  rooted  in  it  as  formerly  :  the  transition  to  public 
life  having  been  once  made,  will  be  more  easy  on  any 
future  occasion  ;  just  as  going  abroad  is  to  a  person  who 
has  once  crossed  the  Channel.  At  present,  however,  I 
have  no  prospect  of  such  an  occasion,  nor  any  wish  for 
one.  When  a  vacancy  happens  at  Norwich  I  shall 
probably  come  into  Parliament,  and  my  attachment  to  a 
particular  set  of  Men  will  then  probably  lead  me,  by 
degrees,  to  take  an  active  part  in  business,  but  my 
genius  lies  to  employment  of  a  different  kind,  and  however 
I  may  embark  for  a  while  civilihus  undis,  it  will  only  be 
with  a  view  of  returning  with  higher  enjoyment  to  the 
pursuit  of  Literature  and  Philosophy — ^but  enough  of 
myself  any  otherwise  than  as  that  account  may  be  con- 
nected with  the  mention  of  your  business.  The  scene  of 
my  illness  in  England  was  the  place  I  am  now  in,  namely 
Alma  Mater  [illegible]  where  about  five  weeks  ago.  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot  ^  called  upon  me,  and  where  General 
Maitland,  most  obligingly  came  to  see  me  on  purpose,  a 
few  days  ago,  and  where  Lord  Loughborough  called  on 
me  the  day  before  yesterday :  so  that  Oxford  seems  to 
have  been  the  place  for  a  sort  of  Parliament  of  your 
friends. 2 

1  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  (1751-1814) ;  Member  of  Parliament  from  1776  ; 
Constitutional  Viceroy  of  Corsica  (1795-7);  created  Baron  Minto 
1797  ;  Governor-General  of  Bengal  1807-13  ;  created  Earl  of  Minto'1813: 

2  Add.  MSS.  37848  f.  51. 


54  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

Brooks's  :    December  18,  1783 

You  have  probably  heard  from  some  other  hand  a 
better  account  than  I  can  give  you  of  the  events  that 
have  taken  place  since  my  last  letter.  My  information  of 
things  future  may  lose  something  of  its  credit,  upon  the 
receipt  of  a  letter,  which  I  put  into  the  hands  of  a  friend 
of  mine,  the  other  day,  a  Mr.  Wills.  I  there  predicted 
that  the  ministry  were  to  be  triumphant,  in  the  House  of 
Lords. ^  The  failure  of  this  prediction  you  are  already 
acquainted  with  :  I  can  only  say  in  my  own  excuse  that 
I  took  my  ideas  from  the  language  of  Fox,  who  at  three 
o'clock  the  night  before  at  Brooks's,  where  one  sup- 
poses that  no  disguise  is  used,  spoke  with  great  confidence 
of  having  a  majority  of  thirty.  The  effect  which  the  real 
issue  produced,  I  need  not  talk  of  to  you,  who  must  have 
seen  a  more  curious  scene  on  your  side  of  the  water.  As 
curious  will  be  the  reverse,  I  hope,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
news  of  yesterday. 

You  know  probably  the  terms  of  the  resolution  :  in- 
deed upon  recollection  you  will  have  them  more  correctly 
than  I  give  them  from  the  papers  :  so  I  will  only  say  that, 
by  all  accounts,  nothing  has  ever  been  known  equal  to 
the  animation  of  the  house,  and  the  triumph  of  ministry. 
Fox  according  to  the  usual  account,  greater  than  ever  ; 
Lord  North,  of  whom  that  is  not  so  constantly  said,  is 
universally  agreed  to  have  been  uncommonly  able  and 
successful  in  both  his  speeches.  Pitt,  after  a  great  deal 
of  intemperate   and  virulent  declamation,   was  at  last 

^  "  Before  the  second  reading  of  Fox's  India  Bill  in  the  Lords  the 
King  gave  Temple  a  card,  authorising  him  to  say  that  whoever  voted 
for  the  Bill  '  would  be  considered  by  him  as  an  enemy.'  This  soon 
became  known,  and,  on  December  17,  the  Commons  voted  by  153  to 
80  that  it  was  now  necessary  to  declare  that  to  report  the  King's 
opinion  on  any  question  pending  in  Parliament  with  a  view  to  in- 
fluence votes  is  a  high  crime  and  misdemeanour.  Nevertheless  the 
King's  unconstitutional  move  was  successful ;  the  Lords  rejected  the 
Bill."—"  Political  History  of  England,"  x.  250. 


\ 


1783]  FOX'S  INDIA  BILL  55 

so  beaten  and  struck  down,  that  upon  the  second  question, 
I  hear,  he  could  not  even  make  up  a  speech.  Whether 
the  rashness,  folly  and  presumption  of  your  worthy  pre- 
decessor^ will  venture  to  undertake  the  government 
under  the  present  circumstances,  and  whether  his 
Majesty's  magnanimity  will  remain  unshaken  by  these 
resolutions  of  the  angry  Commons,  is  now  the  subject  of 
speculation  among  the  learned.  I  will  hazard  no  more 
conjectures  :  for  which  indeed  I  have  a  further  reason 
than  the  fear  of  being  proved  wrong,  namely,  that  I  have 
hardly  an  opinion  upon  the  subject.  One  confidence  only 
I  have,  that  good,  either  immediate  or  ultimate,  must 
be  the  result  :  and  perhaps  the  greatest  would  be  that 
which  should  come  through  the  medium  of  temporary 
confusion.  The  conduct  by  which  the  fate  of  the 
measure  was  turned,  was  happily  so  marked  that  people 
cannot  mistake  it ;  and  I  hear  accordingly  that  people 
in  general  speak  of  it  with  much  indignation.  On  such 
accounts,  however,  one  can  perhaps  lay  no  great  stress  : 
the  most  satisfactory  intelligence,  therefore,  to  you  may 
be  that  Fox,  who  has  just  been  here,  is  in  an  extasy  of 
spirits.  The  substance  of  the  Duke  of  Portland's  inter- 
view with  the  King  yesterday  was  to  acquaint  him  with 
the  reports  and  desire  his  Majesty's  authority  to  contra- 
dict them.  To  which  the  King  answered  "  that  he  could 
give  him  no  such  authority,  having  never  approved  the  biU." 
The  fact  is  that  every  possible  attention  was  shewn  in 
submitting  to  him  the  several  parts  of  the  business,  as 
it  went  on :  and  desiring  upon  each  his  sentiments  : 
nor  was  anything  said  that  imported  the  least  disapproba- 
tion, and  much  that  implied  satisfaction. 

I  write  this  from  Brooks's,  which  presents  a  scene 
such  as  you  have  so  frequently  beheld  here  :  I  don't 
know    that    it   would  be    a   bad    wish    to    say   that  I 

^  George  Nugent-Temple  Grenville,  second  Earl  Temple  (1753-1813), 
Lord -Lieutenant  of  Ireland  in  the  Shelburne  Administration.  The 
Duke  of  Rutland  succeeded  Lord  Northington,  but  in  1787  Temple,  now 
Marquis  of  Buckingham,  again  became  Lord -Lieutenant. 


56  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1783 

should  not  be  sorry,   if  you  were   soon  to  make   part 
of  it.i 


William  Windham  to  The  Earl  of  Northington 

December,  1783 

It  is  worth  while  to  write  you  a  few  lines  from  Brooks's, 
if  it  be  only  for  the  sake  of  bringing  the  place  into  your 
thoughts,  and  giving  you  a  momentary  vision  of  a  scene, 
which  at  most  hours  of  the  day,  may  have  a  chance  of 
being  more  agreeable  than  the  one  that  is  before  you. 
At  present  however  there  is  further  reason,  that  you 
may  have  the  last,  and  probably  the  most  authentick 
account  of  a  report  of  no  long  standing,  and  not  much 
vouched  and  supported  ;  yet  sufficient  to  excite  con- 
siderable alarm.  I  must  be  brief,  having  deferred  writing 
to  the  last  moment,  that  I  may  relate  all  that  is  hitherto 
known. 

Lord  Temple,  that  terror  of  administrations,  was 
with  the  King  yesterday,  for  an  hour  and  half  after 
the  Levee.  That  fact  and  that  only  is  certain.  Two 
evidences  declare  that  Lord  Lothian  ^  yesterday,  at 
dinner  at  the  Prince  of  Wales's,  related  in  their  hearing 
that  Lord  Temple,  on  coming  out  of  the  Closet,  told  him 
that  the  King  had  authorized  him  to  say  that  his  (his 
Majesty's)  friends  would  do  a  very  acceptable  thing  to 
him,  if  they  opposed  the  present  Indian  Bill.  That  is 
[what]  he.  Lord  Lothian,  declared  repeatedly,  and  talked 
of  during  the  whole  of  dinner. — Adam  Alsop,  and  Andrew 
Stuart  ^  told  Fox  that  Lord  Carmarthen  *  had  reported 
the  same  declaration  made  by  Lord  Temple  afterwards 
to  him.     These  points  therefore  seem  to  be  pretty  well 

1  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  443. 

2  "William  John  Kerr,  fifth  Marquis  of  Lothian  (1737-1815). 

3  Andrew  Stuart  (d.  1801),  lawyer;  Member  of  Parliament  from 
1774  until  his  death. 

4  Francis  Osborne,  fifth  Duke  of  Leeds  (1751-1799),  until  his  succes- 
sion to  the  dukedom  in  1789,  known  as  Lord  Carmarthen.  He  was 
an  active  politician,  and  Foreign  Secretary  under  Pitt,  1783-91. 


1783]  THE  KING  AND  CHARLES  JAMES  FOX     57 

established,  that  both  Lord  Lothian  and  Lord  Carmarthen 
related  this  declaration  as  coming  from  Lord   Temple. 
On  the  other  hand,  Lord  Lothian  on  being  asked  by  Fox, 
denies  that  he  had  even  seen  Lord  Temple  since  his 
leaving  the  King,  and  this  account  is  confirmed  by  Lord 
Essex, ^  the  Lord  in  waiting,  who  says  that  when  Lord 
Temple  left  the  King,  no  one  else  remained  at  St.  James's. 
The  presumption,  therefore,  is,  that  Lord  Lothian  had 
related   a   conversation   that   had    passed   before   Lord 
Temple's  going  into  the  closet,  as  having  happened  after- 
wards ;    and  finding  afterwards  that  he  had  got  into  a 
scrape,  wished  to  recall  his  report :  and  that  Lord  Car- 
marthen might  have  talked  loosely,  and  related  as  a 
matter  which  Lord  Temple  was  authorized  to  declare, 
what  he  might  have  said  only  as  his  private  opinion. — 
This  seems  to  be  the  whole  of  what  is  known  upon  the 
occasion.     No   other   circumstances   appear   to   confirm 
the  opinion  of  Lord  Temple's  conversation  having  pro- 
duced any  effect ;   and  on  the  contrary,  all  those  of  the 
King's   friends   whose   support   was   expected,   seem   to 
continue  firm  in  their  purpose.     Fox,  who  is  just  gone 
from  here,  and  whose  account  I  have  taken,  tells  me  to 
caution  you  against  feeling  at  all  alarmed.     One  circum- 
stance might  be  thought  suspicious,  that  the  Archbishop 
who  is  understood  to  be  a  warm  supporter,  and  who  I  know 
has  the  Bishop  of  London's  proxy  for  that  purpose,  was 
sent  for  to  the  King  either  yesterday  or  this  morning  : 
but  Fox  does  not  seem  to  apprehend  that  anything  is  to  be 
inferred  from  this.     I  shall  let  you  know  what  I  hear 
further  of  this,  if  I  find  that  you  have  not  got  accounts 
from  better  hands. 2 

^  William  Anne  Capel,  fourth  Earl  of  Essex  (i 732-1 799). 
2  Add.  MSS.  33100  f.  522 


SECTION  III 

FIRST  YEARS  IN  PARLIAMENT 

1784-1793 


SECTION  III 

FIRST   YEARS    IN   PARLIAMENT 

1 784- 1 793 

CHAPTER  I 

The  downfall  of  the  Coalition  Ministry  :  Pitt  Prime  Minister  : 
Windham  elected  M.P.  for  Norwich  :  A  regular  attendant  at 
the  Literary  Club  :  His  friendship  with  Dr.  Johnson  :  Some 
correspondence  between  them  :  Windham's  accounts  of  his 
last  interviews  with  Johnson  :  Johnson's  death  :  Windham 
invites  Fox  to  the  funeral  :  The  political  pupil  of  Burke  :  Some 
of  Windham's  friends  :  Mrs.  Siddons  :  Windham's  interest 
in  aeronautics  :  His  ascent  in  a  balloon  with  Sadler  :  Fitz- 

patrick's  ascent, 

THE  opposition  of  the  King  to  Fox's  India  Bill 
having  brought  about  the  downfall  of  the  Coali- 
tion Ministry  in  December  1783,  Pitt  became 
Prime  Minister.  As,  however,  the  followers  of 
Fox  and  Lord  North  still  formed  a  majority  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  Parliament  was  dissolved  in  the  following 
March.  Windham  was  again  nominated  for  Norwich,  and; 
after  a  fierce  contest,  was  returned  as  junior  member  on 
April  5  by  a  majority  of  sixty-four  votes  over  the  Hon. 
Henry  Hobart,^  being  one  of  the  few  supporters  of  the 
unpopular  Coalition  Ministry  who  were  returned  to 
Westminster. 

*  The  figures  were  :    Sir  Harbord  Harbord,  2305  ;   Windham,  1297  ; 
Hobart,  1233. 

61 


62  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

London  :  April  7,  1784 

I  am  most  sincerely  obliged  to  you  and  give  you  my 
most  hearty  thanks  for  having  caused  the  only  very 
satisfactory  event  that  has  happened  since  this  cursed 
Dissolution  has  taken  place,  and  I  desire  you  to  accept 
my  best  congratulations  on  your  Election  which  you  have 
obtained  with  no  less  honor  to  yourself  than  with  ad- 
vantage to  the  Publick  Cause.  You  have  undergone 
much  trouble,  fatigue,  uneasiness  and  vexation  of  every 
kind,  but  you  have  succeeded,  and  succeeded  with  every 
circumstance  that  should  give  you  comfort  and  make 
you  satisfied  with  yourself.  As  a  publick  man  I  must 
again  repeat  my  thanks  to  you,  and  in  the  private  and 
more  grateful  capacity  of  a  Friend  I  share  with  you  the 
joy  which  you  ought  to  feel,  and  which  ought  to  be  the 
effect  of  the  Conduct  you  have  observed. 

I  cannot  hke  Westminster,  nor  can  I  say  that  my  mind 
is  at  ease  respecting  York  and  Yorkshire  (but  this  is  to 
yourself).  1  trust  Norfolk  will  afford  me  a  better 
prospect.  No  pains  shall  be  wanting  on  my  part  to 
realize  this  hope,  but  I  desire  that  j-ou  will  suggest  any 
thing  in  which  my  endeavours  can  be  thought  to  be  of 
service.^ 

Now  more  than  ever  before  Windham  stayed  in 
London,  and  in  these  years  of  his  life  he  found  the  metro- 
polis a  very  pleasant  place.  Previous  to  going  abroad  in 
1778  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Literary  Club, 
and  now  he  was  a  regular  attendant  at  its  meetings.  He 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  whole  circle,  and  Dr.  Johnson 
had  a  great  liking  for  him.  When  it  was  that  Windham 
first  made  Johnson's  acquaintance  is  not  known  ;  but  it 
is  clear  from  Boswell's  "  Life,"  that  as  early  as  1776  they 

^  Add.  MSS.  3784s  f.  3. 


1793]  THE  ESSEX  HEAD  CLUB  63 

were  on  intimate  terms.  At  the  end  of  1783  Dr. 
Johnson  fomided  the  Essex  Head  Club,  whereof  Windham 
was  an  original  member.  That  the  two  men  had  a  very 
tender  regard  for  each  other  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and 
it  is  certain  that  they  were  as  much  together  as  circum- 
stances permitted.  "  After  dinner,"  Windham  noted  in 
his  Diary,  May  15,  1784,  "  took  Johnson  an  airing 
over  Blackfriars  Bridge,  thence  to  the  Club  ;  present, 
Boswell,  Murphy,  Brocklesby,  Berry, Mr.  Bowles,  Hoole, 
and  his  son,  and  a  son  ^  of  Dr.  Burney,  he  that  was 
expelled  Cambridge." 

Dr.  Johnson  to  William  Windham 

August  1784 
The  tenderness  with  which  you  have  been  pleased  to 
treat  me,  through  my  long  illness,  neither  health  nor 
sickness  can,  I  hope,  make  me  forget  ;  and  you  are  not  to 
suppose,  that  after  we  parted  you  were  no  longer  in  my 
mind.  But  what  can  a  sick  man  say,  but  that  he  is 
sick  ?  His  thoughts  are  necessarily  concentered  in  him- 
self ;  he  neither  receives,  nor  can  give  delight ;  his  en- 
quiries are  after  alleviations  of  pain,  and  his  efforts  are 
to  catch  some  momentary  comfort.  Though  I  am  now 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Park,  you  must  expect  no 
account  of  its  wonders,  of  its  hills,  its  waters,  its  caverns, 
or  its  mines  ;  but  I  will  tell  you,  dear  Sir,  what  I  hope 
you  will  not  hear  with  less  satisfaction,  that,  for  about 
a  week  past,  my  asthma  has  been  less  afflictive.^ 

That  Johnson  was  sincerely  grateful  to  the  younger 
man  he  has  shown  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Brocklesby,  written 
from  Ashbourne,  September  2,  1784.  "  Mr.  Windham 
has  been  here  to  see  me,"  he  wrote  ;   "  he  came,  I  think, 

^  Charles,  second  son  of  Dr.  Burney. 

2  Boswell.  "  Life  of  Johnson  "  (ed.  Hill),  iv.  632. 


64  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

forty  miles  out  of  his  way,  and  staid  about  a  day  and  a 
half  ;  perhaps  I  make  the  time  shorter  than  it  was. 
Such  conversation  I  shall  not  have  again  till  I  come  back 
to  the  regions  of  hterature ;  and  there  Windham  is,  inter 
Stellas  luna  minor es."  It  was  on  this  visit  that  Windham, 
as  the  Doctor  put  it,  endeavoured  to  "  wheedle  "  him 
into  paying  a  visit  to  Oxford  as  the  younger  man's 
guest.  ^ 

Dr.  Johnson  to  William  Windham 

Lichfield  :  October  2,  1784 
I  believe  you  had  been  long  enough  acquainted  with  the 
■t)hcenomena  of  sickness,  not  to  be  surprised  that  a  sick 
man  wishes  to  be  where  he  is  not,  and  where  it  appears 
to  everybody  but  himself  that  he  might  easily  be,  without 
having  the  resolution  to  move.  I  thought  Ashbourne 
a  solitary  place  but  did  not  come  hither  till  last  Monday. 
I  have  here  more  company,  but  my  health  has  for  this 
last  week  not  advanced  ;  and  in  the  languor  of  disease  how 
little  can  be  done  ?  Whether  or  when  I  shall  make  my 
next  remove,  I  cannot  tell  ;  but  I  entreat  you,  dear  Sir, 
to  let  me  hear,  from  time  to  time,  where  you  may  be 
found,  for  your  residence  is  a  very  powerful  attractive  to. 
Sir,  your  most  humble  servant.^ 

William  Windham  to  Dr.  Johnson 

Oxford  :  October  6,  1784 
I  returned  to  this  place  two  days  ago,  not  without  a 
secret  hope,  that  you  might  be  here  before  me  ;  and  that 
I  might  find  myself  at  once  in  possession  of  your  company, 
and  of  an  evidence  of  your  improving  health.  Those 
pleasing  expectations,  your  letter  has  for  a  while  sus- 
pended,   but    I    hope    not    dispelled.     From    accounts 

1  Boswell,  "  Life  of  Johnson  "  (ed.  Hill),  iv.  356.  ^  /j,-^ 


Si'r  Joslfna  Reynolds,  piiixt. 


I! 'iff.  DoKg-hty,  sctilpt. 


DR.  JOHNSON 


1793]  DR.  JOHNSON'S  ILLNESS  65 

which  I  received  from  Mrs.  R.  Burke  ^  and  from  Dr. 
Brocklesby,^  I  cannot  help  flattering  myself,  notwith- 
standing the  languor  you  describe,  and  the  retardation  of 
your  recovery  during  the  last  week,  that  you  are  upon  the 
whole  gaining  on  your  complaints,  and  that  when  next 
I  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  I  shall  be  able  to  con- 
gratulate you  and  myself,  on  evident  marks  of  your 
advancement. 

The  interruption  given  to  my  residence  here  by  the  love 
oi  [illegible]  which  carried  me  for  some  time  to  London, 
would  incline  me  to  protract  my  stay  for  a  fortnight 
longer,  till  increase  of  numbers  shall  render  living  in  the 
University  less  agreable.  My  continuance  here  has,  how- 
ever, no  certain  limits  but  my  own  inclinations,  and  they 
will  not  suffer  me  to  depart,  as  long  as  I  have  any  prospect 
of  being  favoured  with  your  company.^ 

Johnson's  health  did  not  improve,  and  on  November  16 
he  returned  to  London.  His  friends  were  unremitting  in 
their  attentions,  for  it  was  evident  that  his  strength  was 
failing  day  by  day,  and  all  knew  that  his  life  was  ebbing 
fast  ;  Windham  was  one  of  the  most  frequent  visitors  at 
Bolt  Court,  and  on  December  7  he  had  a  long  and  interest- 
ing conversation  with  him,  as  he  records  in  his  "  Diary." 

After  waiting  some  short  time  in  the  adjoining  room,  I 
was  admitted  to  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  bedchamber,  where, 
after  placing  me  next  him  on  the  chair,  he  sitting  in  his 
usual  place  on  the  east  side  of  the  room  (and  I  on  his 
right-hand)  he  put  into  my  hands  two  small  volumes 
(an  edition  of  the  New  Testament)  as  he  afterwards  told 
me,  saying,  Extremmn  hoc  munus  morientis  haheto.     He 

^  Wife  of  the  son  of  Edmund  Burke. 

2  Richard  Brocklesby  (1722-1797),  physician;  the  friend  of  Burke, 
and  also  of  Dr.  Johnson,  whom  he  attended  in  his  last  illness. 

3  Add.  MSS.  37914  f.  18. 


66  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

then  proceeded  to  observe  that  I  was  entering  upon  a  life 
which  would  lead  me  deeply  into  all  the  business  of  the 
world  ;   that  he  did  not  condemn  civil  employment,  but 
that  it  was  a  state  of  great  danger  ;    and  that  he  had 
therefore  one  piece  of  advice  earnestly  to  impress  upon 
me — ^that  I  would  set  apart  every  seventh  day,  for  the 
care  of  my  soul  ;    that  one  day,  the  seventh,  should 
be  employed  in  repenting  what  was  amiss  in  the  six  pre- 
ceding, and  for  fortifying  my  virtue  for  the  six  to  come  ; 
that  such  a  portion  of  time  was  surely  little  enough  for 
the  meditation  of  eternity.     He  then  told  me  that  he  had 
a  request  to  make  to  me,  namely,  that  I  would  allow  his 
servant  Frank  to  look  up  to  me  as  his  friend,  adviser,  and 
protector  in  all  difficulties  which  his  own  weakness  and 
imprudence,  or  the  force  or  fraud  of  others,  might  bring 
him  into.     He  said  that  he  had  left  him  what  he  con- 
sidered an  ample  provision,  viz.  70/.  per  annum  ;    but 
that  even  that  sum  might  not  place  him  above  the  want 
of  a  protector,  and  to  me,  therefore,  he  recommended 
him,  as  to  one  who  had  will,  and  power,  and  activity  to 
protect  him.     Having  obtained  my  assent  to  this,  he 
proposed  that  Frank  should  be  called  in,  and  desiring 
me  to  take  him  by  the  hand  in  token  of  the  promise, 
repeated  before  him  the  recommendation  he  had  just 
made  of  him,  and  the  promise  I  had  given  to  attend  to  it. 
I  then  took  occasion  to  say  how  much  I  felt,  what  I  had 
long  foreseen  that  I  should  feel,  regret  at  having  spent 
so  little  of  my  life  in  his  company.     I  stated  this  as  an 
instance  where  resolutions  are  deferred  till  the  occasions 
are  past.     For  some  time  past  I  had  determined  that 
such    an    occasion    of    self-reproach    should    no    longer 
subsist,  and  had  built  upon  the  hope  of  passing  in  his 
society  the  chief  part  of  my  time,  at  the  moment  when  it 
was  to  be  apprehended  we  were  about  to  lose  him  for 
ever  !     I  had  no  difficulty  of  speaking  to  him  thus  of 
my  apprehensions  ;   I  could  not  help,  on  the  other  hand, 
entertaining  hopes ;    but  with  these  I  did  not  like  to 


1795]         WINDHAM  AND  DR.  JOHNSON  67 

trouble  him,  lest  he  should  conceive  that  I  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  flatter  him.  He  answered  hastily  that  he  was  sure 
I  would  not ;  and  proceeded  to  make  a  compliment  to  the 
manliness  of  my  mind,  which,  whether  deserved  or  not, 
ought  to  be  remembered  that  it  may  be  deserved. 

I  then  stated  that  among  other  neglects  was  the  omis- 
sion of  introducing,  of  all  others,  the  most  important, 
the  consequence  of  which  particularly  filled  my  mind 
at  that  moment,  and  on  which  I  had  often  been  desirous 
to  know  his  opinions.  The  subjects  I  meant  were 
I  said,  '  natural  and  revealed  religion.'  The  wish  thus 
generally  stated  was  in  part  gratified  on  the  instant. 
For  revealed  religion,  he  said,  there  was  such  historical 
evidence  as,  upon  any  subject  not  religious,  would  have 
left  no  doubt.  Had  the  facts  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment been  mere  civil  occurrences,  no  one  would  have 
called  in  question  the  testimony  by  which  they  are 
established.  But  the  importance  annexed  to  them 
amounting  to  nothing  less  than  the  salvation  of  mankind, 
raised  a  cloud  in  our  minds,  and  created  doubt  unknown 
upon  any  other  subject.  Of  proofs  to  be  derived  from 
history,  one  of  the  most  cogent,  he  seemed  to  think,  was 
the  opinion  so  well  authenticated  and  so  long  entertained 
of  a  Deliverer  that  was  to  appear  about  that  time. 
Among  the  typical  representations,  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Paschal  lamb,  in  which  no  bone  was  to  be  broken,  had 
early  struck  his  mind.  For  the  immediate  life  and 
miracles  of  Christ ;  such  attestation  as  that  of  the 
apostles,  who  all,  except  St.  John,  confirmed  their  testi- 
mony by  their  blood  ;  such  belief  as  their  witness  pro- 
cured from  a  people  best  furnished  with  the  means  of 
judging,  and  least  disposed  to  judge  favourably  ;  such 
an  extension  afterwards  of  that  belief  over  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  though  originating  from  a  nation  of  all 
others  the  most  despised,  would  leave  no  doubt  that  the 
things  witnessed  were  true,  and  were  of  a  nature  more 
than  human.     With  respect  to  evidences,  Dr.  Johnson 


68  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

observed,  we  had  not  such  evidence  that  Caesar  died 
in  the  Capitol,  as  that  Christ  died  in  the  manner 
related.^ 


On  December  11  Windham  was  again  admitted  to  the 
sick  chamber,  and  of  this  meeting  also  he  has  left  a 
record. 

After  promising  that  I  considered  what  I  was  going 
to  say  as  a  matter  of  duty,  I  said  that  I  hoped  he  would 
not  suspect  me  of  the  weakness  of  importuning  him  to 
take  nourishment  for  the  purpose  of  prolonging  his  life 
for  a  few  hours  or  days.  I  then  stated  what  the  reason 
was,  that  it  was  to  secure  that  which  I  was  persuaded 
he  was  most  anxious  about,  viz.,  that  he  might  preserve 
his  faculties  entire  to  the  last  moment.  Before  I  had 
quite  stated  m}^  meaning,  he  interrupted  me  by  saying 
that  he  refused  no  sustenance  but  inebriating  sustenance, 
and  proceeded  to  give  instances  where,  in  compliance 
with  the  wishes  of  his  physicians,  he  had  taken  even  a 
small  quantity  of  wine.  I  readily  assented  to  any  objec- 
tions he  might  have  to  nourishment  of  that  kind,  and 
observing  that  milk  was  the  only  nourishment  I  intended, 
flattered  myself  that  I  had  succeeded  in  my  endeavours, 
when  he  recurred  to  his  general  refusal,  and  begged  that 
there  might  be  an  end  to  it.  I  then  said  that  I  hoped  he 
would  forgive  my  earnestness — or  something  to  that 
effect  :  when  he  replied  eagerly,  '  that  from  me  nothing 
would  be  necessary  by  way  of  apology ' ;  adding  with  great 
fervour,  in  words  which  I  shall  (I  hope)  never  forget — 
'  God  bless  you,  my  dear  Windham,  through  Jesu 
Christ ' ;  and  concluding  with  a  wish  that  we  might  meet 
in  some  humble  portion  of  that  happiness  which  God 
might  finally  vouchsafe  to  repentant  sinners.  These 
were  the  last  words  I  ever  heard  him  speak.     I  hurried 

1  Windham's  "  Diary,"  pp.  28-30. 


1793]         THE  DEATH  OF  DR.  JOHNSON  69 

out  of  the  room  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  and  more  affected 
than  I  had  been  on  anj^  former  occasion.^ 

This  was  the  last  meeting  between  them,  for  when 
Windham  went  to  Bolt  Court  the  next  afternoon,  the 
dying  man  was  sleeping,  and  he  did  not  enter  the  room. 
In  the  evening  Johnson  passed  away,  a  man  so  eminent 
in  literary  annals  that  even  to  have  been  his  friend  is 
sufficient  for  immortalization.  The  sad  news  was  brought 
almost  at  once  to  Windham,  who  thus  commented  upon  it : 

While  I  was  writing  the  adjoining  articles,  received  the 
fatal  account,  so  long  dreaded,  that  Dr.  Johnson  was  no 
more.  May  those  prayers  which  he  incessantly  poured 
from  a  heart  fraught  with  the  deepest  devotion,  find  that 
acceptance  with  Him  to  Whom  they  were  addressed, 
which  piety  so  humble  and  so  fervent  may  seem  to 
promise." 

William  Windham  to  Charles  James  Fox 

Brooks's  :  December  18,  1784 
You  have  heard,  no  doubt,  that  to  the  great  men  who 
have  departed  in  our  time  one  more  instance  is  to  be 
added  ;  and  that  learning  and  virtue  have  sustained  a 
loss,  equal  to  any  they  have  ever  known,  in  the  death 
of  Dr.  Johnson.  Though  you  have  never  cultivated  his 
acquaintance  nor  lived  much  in  his  society,  you  have  so 
much  respect  perhaps  for  his  genius  and  character,  as  to 
feel  a  satisfaction, — ^which  is  all  that  can  be  said, — in  doing 
an  act  of  honour  to  his  memory.  His  particular  friends, 
including  The  Club  of  which  you  are  a  member,  mean  to 
attend  his  corpse  on  Monday  morning  from  his  house 
in  Bolt  Court,  Fleet  Street,  to  its  place  of  interment  in 
Westminster  Abbey.     You  are  not  too  much  of  a  philo- 

^  Windham's  "  Diary,"  p.  31.  Ibid.  p.  33. 


70  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

sopher  to  share  in  the  vulgar  prejudice,  that  leads  men 
to  pay  honours  to  the  dead.  If  you  can  make  it  con- 
venient to  you  to  be  in  Fleet  Street  by  11  o'clock,  or  in 
Westminster  Abbey  by  12,  I  trust  you  will  put  on  a 
black  coat,  and  show  yourself  among  the  mourners  at 
his  funeral.^ 


Windham  was  one  of  the  pall-bearers  at  Johnson's 
funeral,  the  others  being  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Sir  Charles 
Bunbury,  Edmund  Burke,  Langton,  and  George  Colman. 
Subsequently  he  took  an  active  part  in  erecting  a  memorial 
to  his  friend.  "  Last  Sunday,"  Boswell  wrote  to  Temple, 
November  28,  1789,  "  I  dined  with  Malone,  with  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Mr.  Metcalfe,  Mr. 
Windham,  Mr.  Courtenay,  and  young  Mr.  Burke,  being 
a  select  number  of  Dr.  Johnson's  friends,  to  settle  as  to 
effectual  measures  for  having  a  monument  erected  to  him 
in  Westminster  Abbey."  ^ 

Windham  was  almost  as  intimate  with  Burke  as  with 
Johnson.  He  became  his  political  pupil.  He  was  also 
the  friend  of  Malone  and  Reynolds,  who  painted  his 
portrait.^  Of  the  relations  existing  between  these  men 
something  will  be  shown  in  these  volumes  ;  whilst  others 
whose  names  frequently  occur  at  this  time  in  his  Diary 
are  Fox,  Fitzpatrick,  Hare,  Selwyn,  Sheridan,  Gilbert 
Elliot,  Lord  Spencer,  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Lord 
Townshend,  and,  among  theatrical  folk,  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Kemble,  and  Mrs.  Siddons. 

1  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  220. 

2  Letters  of  Boswell  to  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Temple  (ed.  Seccombe),  263. 
^  "  The  two  portraits  which  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  has  lately  painted 

of  Mr.  WilUam  Windham  of  Norfolk  and  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan 
are  so  like  the  originals,  that  they  seem  almost  alive  and  ready  to  speak 
to  you.  Painting  in  point  of  resemblance,  can  go  no  farther." — Prior, 
"  Life  of  Malone,"  p.  3*8. 


1793]  MRS.  SIDDONS'  VICTORY  71 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Siddons  ^ 

Oxford  :  October  10,  1784 
I  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  the  victory  obtained 
over  malice  and  brutality  the  first  night  of  your  appear- 
ance. From  Mr.  Lawrence,  a  friend  of  Sheridan's,  who 
was  present  upon  the  occasion,  and  who  is  just  come  down 
here,  I  have  received  the  whole  account.  Nothing  had 
pleased  me  more  than  the  style  of  your  address,  which 
completely  removed  any  regret  for  the  necessity  of 
delivering  it.  It  spoke  the  only  language  proper  for  the 
occasion — the  language  of  innocence,  disclaiming  favour 
and  calling  only  for  justice  against  calumny  and  outrage. 
I  regret  that  I  was  not  in  the  house  at  the  time.  You 
will  now  resolve,  I  hope,  that  the  matter  shall  end,  and 
that  nothing  shall  provoke  you  to  further  explanation.^ 

Mrs.  Siddons  to  William  Windham 

January  i,  1785 

1  wish  you  many  happy  returns  of  this  day,  and  hope 
you  will  not  be  engaged  this  evening  to  tea,  as  I  am  to 
have  a  little  music  ;  but  my  party  does  not  exceed  two 
gentlemen,  who  perhaps  you  know,  with  my  own  fireside. 
I  am  sure  you  would  like  it,  and  you  can't  be  to  learn 
that  I  am  truly  sensible  of  the  honour  of  your  society. 
I  am  flying  to  rehearsal,  and  shall  flatter  myself  that  you 
will  give  me  the  happiness  of  seeing  you.3 

^  Mrs.  Siddons,  who  had  been  touring  in  the  provinces,  reappeared 
at  Drury  Lane  Theatre  on  October  5,  1784,  in  the  character  of  Mrs. 
Beverley  in  "  The  Gamester,"  and  to  her  great  astonishment  was 
hooted  when  she  stepped  upon  the  stage.  This  unusual  reception  of 
a  favourite  actress  was  the  result  of  rumours  which  had  been  circulated 
while  she  was  away,  that  as  a  reward  for  appearing  at  the  benefits 
given  to  Digges  and  Brereton  she  had  extorted  a  share  of  the  receipts. 
The  fact,  generally  known,  that  she  was  extraordinarily  careful  of  her 
money,  made  the  public  believe  the  story.  Kemble  led  her  off  the 
stage,  but  she  insisted  on  returning  and  denying  the  allegations,  which 
were,  indeed,  soon  proved  to  be  unfounded. 

2  Windham,  "  Diary,"  p.  24.  3  Ibid.  p.  39. 


72  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

Windham  was  at  this  time  on  very  friendly  terms  with 
Mrs.  Siddons.  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  writing  to  his  wife  on 
March  14, 1787,  of  a  ball  at  Miss  Adair's,  mentions  that  the 
actress  was  the  principal  person  there.  "  She  did  not 
dance,"  he  remarked,  "  but  was  attended  unremittingly 
by  Windham  on  one  hand,  and  Tom  Erskine  ^  on  the 
other,  and  sometimes  young  Burke  in  front  and  young 
Adams  in  rear."  2  Windham's  intimacy  with  Mrs. 
Siddons  did  not  endure,  however,  for  in  his  Diary,  for 
May  27,  1805,  after  noting  that  he  went  to  see  her  in 
"  Zara,"  he  added  :  "  Had  not  seen  her  for  years  :  im- 
pression of  her  excellence  not  less  than  formerly." 

John  Hely-Hutchinson  ^  to  William  Windham 

Palmerston  :  August  12,  1784 

Your  kind  letter  has  given  me  very  sensible  pleasure  : 
it  confirmed  an  opinion  which  I  had  formed  after  some 
consideration,  and  in  which  I  had  the  mortification  of 
standing  single,  and  it  flatters  me  with  the  hopes  of  the 
continuance  of  your  friendship,  on  which  I  must  set  a  high 
value  whilst  I  have  any  regard  for  cultivated  talents 
under  the  direction  of  virtue  and  candor,  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  finest  feelings.  These  qualities  would 
have  certainly  made  their  way  through  the  thorny  and 
entangled  labyrinth  of  the  Castle,  but  are  more  pleasantly 
exercised  by  the  member  for  Norwich,  who  will  serve 
his  discerning  constituents  with  the  same  spirit  and  in- 
tegrity that  animated  his  elegant  and  manly  address  for 
their  suffrages.  With  them  you  are  to  answer  only  for 
your  own  conduct,  in  which  3^ou  and  they  may  always 
justly  confide,  but  God  knows  for  whom  and  for  what  a 

^  Thomas,  afterwards  Baron,  Erskine  (1750- 182 3),  Lord  Chancellor 
i8o6. 

2  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Minto,"  i.  136. 

3  John  Hely-Hutchinson  (i 724-1 794),  Provost  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  1774.  An  active  politician,  and  an  advocate  of  Irish  inde- 
pendence and  Cathohc  Emancipation. 


Sir  IFm.  Bfer/if_y.  Ji.^l  ■ 


SARAH    SIDUONS 


1793]  A  TROUBLESOME  OFFICE  73 

Secretary  to  a  Lord  Lieutenant  may  be  responsible.     I 
hold  this  to  be  the  most  troublesome  office  in  the  British 
Empire,    which,  comprising    every   department    in    the 
Church,  Law,  State,  Army  and  revenue,  and  both  houses 
of  parliament,   is   made  more  troublesome  by  the  wild 
turbulence  of  the  times.     There  is  no  intermediate  body 
of  men  between  the  Castle  and  the  people.     The  men  of 
property  and  in  great   offices  have  not  the  power  of 
restraining,   because   they   have   little   or   no   influence. 
These  disorders,  as  you  justly  observe,  may  by  their 
excess  work  their  own  cure.     There  have  been  some  favor- 
able appearances  of  that  kind  in  the  metropolis  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  Kingdom.     The  great  difficulty  lies 
here  :  this  country  is  become  free  and  must  be  governed, 
if  peaceably  governed,  by  considering  its  interest  as  the 
primary  object  in  all  public  deliberations.    Of  the  interest 
of  Ireland  that  of  Great  Britain  should  be  certainly  con- 
sidered as  an  essential  part ;    but  if  the  interest  of  the 
latter  is  to  be  preferred  in  the  Irish  parliament,  I  fear 
much  for  the  public  peace.     The  situation  of  Ireland  is 
new  ;   the  maxims  of  her  government  should  be  different 
from  those  adopted  when  the  circumstances  of  the  country 
were  different.     The  commercial  system  should  be  form'd 
on  principles  of  exact  equality  :   Ireland  to  encourage  the 
staple  manufacture  of  England,  the  woolen  in  the  same 
degree  that  England  encourages  our  staple  manufacture, 
the  linnen,  which  we  ought  to  encourage  to  the  utmost 
extent,  and  it  is  capable  of  being  doubled  in  value,  to 
prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  all  jealousy  between  the  two 
countries  in  adjusting  this  equality,  justice  requires  that 
a  liberal  compensation  should  be  made  to  England  for 
the   superiority   of  her  markets.     The  difficulty   above 
stated   has   occasioned   the   present   disturbances.     Ad- 
ministration had  stood  the  parliamentary  reform  without 
receiving  much  damage  ;   and  might  have  weather'd  out 
protecting  duties  by  yielding  a  little  to  the  blast,  and 
not  steering  directly  against  it.     Temporary  expedients. 


74  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

such  as  premiums  on  the  exportation  of  certain  coarse 
goods,  were  recommended,  and  would  probably  have 
given  time  for  future  adjustments  between  the  two 
kingdoms.  Meeting  these  motions  with  flat  negatives, 
without  proposing  present  expedients,  or  holding  out 
future  expectations,  much  irritated  the  people.  The 
censure  of  the  Lord  Mayor,  which  followed,  administered 
fuel  to  the  fire,  and  offended  the  Magistracy  and  the 
Citizens  of  Dublin.  The  press  teemed  with  the  most 
violent  abuse.  The  House  of  Commons  wag'd  war  with 
the  printers,  and  the  press  bill  spread  the  flame  through 
the  Kingdom ;  these  circumstances  immediately  following 
each  other,  have  raised  the  fever  of  parliamentary  reform 
to  the  highest  pitch.  Whilst  those  measures  were  carrying 
on  by  Administration,  the  cry  was,  if  you  stop  now  they 
will  say  you  are  afraid — but  I  think  and  always  thought, 
that  true  fortitude  was  seen  in  temperate  councils  which 
wisdom  warrants  and  when  Justice  guides — and  that  a 
man,  not  conscious  of  fear,  is  never  to  act  lest  he  should 
be  suspected  of  such  a  motive.  But  do  not  suppose  that 
I  impute  all  these  things  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  or  his 
Secretary — by  no  means — they  came  here  in  haste,  they 
found  men  were  in  haste  to  get  into  great  offices — ande 
aliquid  si  vis  esse  aliquis,  is  sometimes  the  maxim  of 
better  men  than  Juvenal  had  in  view.  A  most  absurd 
notion  has  prevailed  in  a  certain  great  Kingdom  that  no 
man  can  be  a  friend  to  English  Government  who  is  not 
detested  by  the  Irish  people.  An  unpopular  Govern- 
ment is  not  quite  so  advantageous  to  a  Lord  Lieutenant 
and  his  Secretary  as  it  is  sometimes  made  to  those  who 
act  with  them.  The  worst  administration  for  the  followers 
of  it  was  Lord  Chesterfield's  ;  he  kept  clear  from  the  policy 
of  the  Lords  Justices,  whose  first  object  was  to  commit 
every  chief  Governor  that  they  might  have  had  the  merit 
of  extricating  him  from  difficulties  which  themselves  had 
raised.  It  requires  no  great  ingenuity  to  raise  difiBi- 
culties  at  present ;   but  he  who  can  remove  them  will  be 


1793]         THE  CRAZE  FOR  BALLOONING  75 

a  friend  indeed  to  both  countries.  Till  those  disturbances 
arose  I  have  often  lamented  your  retiring  from  us,  but 
since  the  storm  has  arisen,  I  have  rejoiced  that  you  were 
on  shore,  both  on  your  account  and  my  own  :  for  if  you 
had  been  at  the  helm  I  should  have  been  ever  on  the 
deck  ;  and  tho'  I  have  lost  much  in  losing  the  assistance 
and  society  of  a  most  valuable  and  amiable  friend,  yet 
we  have  both  been  gainers  in  ease  and  tranquillity. 

I  hope  your  health  is  firmly  established  and  that  you 
will  not  always  stay  in  the  House  to  very  late  hours, 
which  I  know  to  be  highly  injurious,  but  I  also  hope  you 
will  not  follow  the  example  of  another  friend  of  mine  in 
your  house  who  keeps  all  his  talents  for  his  friends  in 
private  but  brings  nothing  of  all  his  great  store  into  the 
public  streets.  Pray  remember  me  as  a  man  who  is 
proud  of  being  obliged  to  you  because  he  has  the  highest 
respect  for  your  character  and  an  earnest  desire  to  hold 
a  place  in  your  friendship.^ 

Windham  was  much  interested  in  ballooning,  which  in 
the  early  part  of  1785  became  a  craze  that  attracted  a 
considerable  section  of  society.  In  March,  he  noted  in 
his  Diary,  he  "  went  out  in  order  to  attend  the  balloon 
in  which  Zambeccari  and  Sir  Edward  Vernon  were  to 
ascend  "  ;  and  soon  after  he  decided  that  he  would  make  a 
flight.  That  he  was  aware  of  the  risk  he  ran  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  he  made  his  will,  and  wrote  the  following 
letter  (which  is  especially  interesting  because  it  contains 
Windham's  confession  of  religious  faith),  that,  however, 
was  only  to  be  delivered  in  the  event  of  his  death. 

William  Windham  to  George   James  Cholmondeley 

May  4,  1785 

There  is  some  difficulty  in  sitting  down  in  earnest  to 

write  a  letter,  to  which  the  occasion  would  hardly  have 

1  Add  MSS.  37873  f.  98- 


76  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

been  given,  if  a  good  hope  and  confidence  fiad  not  been 
entertained  that  it  was  never  hkely  to  be  read.  Something, 
however,  must  be  said  in  case  of  the  worst,  that  I  may 
not  leave  the  world  without  one  affectionate  farewell 
to  him,  who  in  the  final  evanescence  of  all  worldly  objects 
must  be  the  last  to  remain  upon  my  sight.  I  must  not 
suffer  my  imagination  to  dwell  on  a  subject  which  it 
would  quickly  render  too  big  for  utterance  ;  but  dispatch 
in  a  few  words,  such  matters  as  are  immediately  present 
to  me. 

Some  notice  must  be  taken  of  a  circumstance,  which, 
however  innocent,  sits  uneasy  upon  my  mind,  as  it  is 
a  deception  practised  towards  you.  I  mean  the  con- 
cealment from  you  of  my  present  purpose,  and  the  means 
by  which  I  was  obliged  to  effect  that  concealment.  My 
motives  to  this  you  cannot  mistake  or  be  displeased  at ; 
and,  I  think,  will  not  condemn  my  determination.  The 
hope  that  the  news  of  my  landing  might,  from  the  precau- 
tions of  secrecy  I  have  used,  be  the  notice  you  would 
receive  of  my  flight,  prevailed  over  the  wish  of  parting 
from  you  as  my  last  earthly  object,  and  of  gratifying  a 
similar  wish,  which  I  conceived  would  exist  with  you. 
Should  you  receive  this  letter  I  shall  have  wished  that  I 
had  acted  otherwise  :  should  the  event  be  as  I  hope,  I 
shall  be  glad  that  I  acted  as  I  have.  Something  likewise 
must  be  said  of  my  motives  to  this  adventure.  From  the 
moment  of  my  hearing  of  Balloons,  I  felt,  in  common  I 
believe  with  every  man  of  the  smallest  imagination,  the 
wish  of  adventuring  in  one  ;  and  as  early  as  the  beginning 
of  the  winter  before  last,  concerted  with  Dr.  Fordyce  that 
we  should  build  one  and  go  up  together.  The  dissolution 
of  Parliament  joined  to  my  own  and  his  dilatoriness 
delayed  the  execution  of  the  purpose  ;  till  during  my 
residence  at  Oxford  in  last  September  I  got  acquainted 
with  Sadler  ;  with  whom  I  should  then  have  gone  up  ; 
but  that  before  I  knew  him  sufficiently  to  trust  him  with 
my  intention,  he  had  inserted  an  advertisement,  which,  as 


1793]  A  SERIOUS  ADVENTURE  77 

you  may  hear  from  a  letter  which  I  happened  to  write 
at  the  time  to  Legge,  fixed  him,  he  thought,  to  the 
necessity  of  going  up  at  Oxford.  I  give  you  this  detail, 
that  you  may  vindicate  me  against  the  imputation  either 
of  doing  this  from  ostentation,  or,  of  having  chose  to  wait, 
till  experience  should  have  done  away  any  great  appre- 
hensions of  danger.  The  credit  to  one's  resolution  that 
would  have  attended  such  an  adventure  some  time  ago,  I 
should  not  have  been  insensible  to  :  though  I  may  safely 
say,  that  that  was  but  a  part  of  my  motive,  and  the  fear 
of  its  being  supposed  the  whole  or  the  principal  part,  was 
on  the  other  hand  one  of  thechief  obstacles  to  the  design. 
At  this  moment  I  should  be  desirous  to  go,  though  not  a 
soul  should  know  it  :  long  since,  the  fear  of  blame,  and 
appearance  of  coveting  a  foolish  distinction,  were  the 
causes  that  created  the  chief  difficulty.  So  much  for  this. 
Let  me  now  speak  of  another  matter  of  infinitely  greater 
importance  to  me,  as  it  affects  my  opinion  of  your  virtues, 
in  itself,  as  it  relates  to  the  happiness  of  one,  with  whose 
character  neither  yours  nor  mine  would  stand  in  any  ad- 
vantageous comparison.  If  I  have  been  desirous  to  hurry 
over  the  whole  of  this  letter,  that  the  general  purport  and 
occasion  might  not  melt  me  into  tenderness,  I  must  dwell 
as  little  upon  this  part  of  it,  lest  it  should  betray  me  into 
sensations  very  inconsistent  with  what  I  would  wish  to 
feel  at  this  moment — ^the  subject  I  mean  is  the  history  of 
your  Conduct  to  Cecy}  You  have  in  that  instance,  done  an 
injury  to  a  fellow-creature,  which  no  means  now  left  you 
can  probably  ever  repair,  and  for  which  hardly  any  degree 
of  contrition  and  humiliation,  which  you  can  feel,  will  ever 
atone.  You  have  undone  a  great  and  noble  mind,  whose 
only  weakness  has  been  too  fond  an  attachment  to  you, — 
by  a  course  of  conduct  utterly  irreconcileable  to  justice  and 
duty  :  and  as  Mttle  creditable  in  the  motives  as  justifiable 
in  the  act.     That  you  should  prefer  a  life  of  vanity  and 

^  Cecilia  Forrest,  who  married  Windham  in  1798.      See  ante,  p.  15 
(note). 


78  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

voluptuousness  to  a  connection  with  such  a  woman  as 
Miss  Forrest,  is  no  very  honourable  mark  of  your  choice 
of  happiness :    That  you  should  think  yourself  at  liberty 
to  pursue  that  choice,  to  the  utter  ruin  and  extinction  of 
her  peace  of  mind,  is,  in  the  circumstances,  in  which  you 
stood,  no  very  favourable  evidence  of  your  regard  to  duty. 
I  forbear  to  push  this  matter  any  further  than  to  say,  that 
her  original,  fatal  attachment  for  you,  has,  I  have  reason 
to  be  assured,  and  notwithstanding  the  most  heroic  efforts 
to  lock  the  secret  from  the  knowledge  of  her  nearest  con- 
nexions, continued  with  so  unhappy  a  force,  as  to  have 
destroyed  the  very  spring  and  power  of  happiness  :   and, 
after  a  struggle  supported  with  a  degree  of  constancy 
which  redeems  the  weakness  of  the  occasion,  to  have 
proved  in  the  end  too  hard  for  her  bodily  strength,  and  to 
be  now  drawing  her  apace  towards  the  grave.     Do  not 
imagine,  however,  that  what  I  here  say,  or  a  provision 
which  you  will  find  in  m}^  will,  is  intended  to  invite  you 
to  do  from  remorse  and  compunction,  what  you  ought 
long  since  to  have  done  from  principle  and  from  choice. 
I  have  too  high  an  opinion  of  her  to  suppose  that  in  such 
circumstances  she  would  condescend  to  accept  you.     I 
should  hope  that  from  her  pride  :  I  fear  there  is  a  principle 
still  stronger,  which  would  equally  prevent  her,  an  un- 
limited preference  of  your  happiness  to  her  own.     Could 
she  ever  be  prevailed  upon,  I  am  far  from  sure,  that  I 
should  wish  such  an  event  to  take  place.     I  fear  you  have 
not  virtue  enough  to  make  such  a  connexion  a  source  of 
happiness  ;    and  I  am  sure  her  love  is  of  a  quality  too 
exalted  and  noble,  to  admit  of  happiness  under  any  other 
condition.     Here  let  me  end  this  painful  subject,  and 
having  discharged,  what  I  have  thought  it  incumbent  on 
me  to  sa}^  and  what  perhaps  I  shall  say,  even  though 
this  letter  should  not  be  received,  let  me  banish  it  for  the 
present  entirely  from  my  thoughts,  and  keep  in  view  those 
parts  of  your  character,  where  my  affections  may  be 
unmixed. 


1793]  A  CONFESSION  OF  FAITH  79 

That  I  preserve  to  the  last  the  same  sentiments 
towards  you,  my  dear  Cholmondeley,  as  at  any  period 
since  the  first  bloom  of  affection  was  past,  the  disposition 
newly  made  in  my  property  (which  by  the  way  is  left  at 
Cocks's)  will  sufficiently  testify.  If  it  appears  in  one 
respect  less  favourable  than  a  former  one,  the  reason  will 
be  understood  from  what  is  said  above.  I  am  sorry  to 
have  been  obliged  to  cut  down  the  bequest,  till  it  ceases 
almost  to  be  considerable  :  but  I  have  not  done  more, 
than  a  regard  to  the  merit,  the  wants,  or  the  virtues  of  the 
parties,  rendered,  I  thought,  incumbent  on  me.  All  my 
papers  are  left  to  you,  with  perfect  confidence,  that  any 
of  a  secret  nature,  which  are  not  numerous,  nor  perhaps 
important,  will  be  destroyed,  without  further  inspection 
than  is  necessary  to  ascertain  their  nature.  They  will 
be  found  chiefly  in  a  deal  box,  which  has  stood  for  some 
time  past,  in  the  front  room  above  stairs. — More  need  not 
be  said  about  these,  nor  about  other  such  particulars. 
My  literary  papers  are  clearly  of  no  consequence,  and  will 
only  bear  witness  to  the  strenua  inertia,  in  which  I  have 
suffered  a  life  that  might  have  been  distinguished,  and 
talent  of  which  I  believe  something  might  have  been 
made,  to  be  wasted  and  trifled  away. 

The  best,  the  greatest,  the  most  solemn  office  I  can 
render  in  a  letter  of  this  sort,  is  to  extort  you  to  a  steady 
contemplation  of  divine  truths,  and  a  sincere  endeavour 
to  confirm  in  yourself  that  faith,  which  after  various  fluc- 
tuations I  believe  to  be  the  true  one,  and  which,  inde- 
pendent of  evidence,  is  supported  by  too  great  authorities 
ever  to  be  rejected  with  confidence.  Whatever  may  be 
the  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  particular  nature,  I 
believe  Christ  to  be  a  person  divinely  commissioned,  and 
that  faith  in  him  affords  the  fairest  hope  of  propitiating 
the  great  author  of  the  world.  Cultivate  in  your  mind  this 
persuasion,  and  dwell  upon  it  till  it  grows  into  a  principle 
of  action.  May  it  avail  both  to  the  purposes  of  final 
salvation.     Nothing  more  remains  to  be  said  but  that  you 


80  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

will  preserve  of  me  such  a  tender  remembrance,  as  it 
would  be  my  joy  to  think  should  outlive  me,  and  as  may 
animate  you  during  your  continuance  in  this  world,  to 
such  temper  of  mind  and  government  of  action,  as  may 
advance  you  to  some  better  state  hereafter.  Farewell, 
my  ever  dear  friend,  and  look  up  to  God  as  the  fountain 
of  all  good  ! 

May  He  take  you  into  his  protection  !  ^ 

On  May  5  Windham  ascended  from  Moulsey  with  James 
Sadler,  one  of  the  earliest  British  aeronauts,  who  on  this 
occasion  made  his  last  flight.^  This  exciting  episode 
was  duly  recorded  by  Windham  in  his  Diary  : 

Much  satisfied  with  myself ;  and,  in  consequence  of 
that  satisfaction,  dissatisfied  rather  with  my  adventure. 
Could  I  have  foreseen  that  danger  or  apprehension  would 
have  made  so  little  impression  on  me,  I  would  have  in- 
sured that  of  which,  as  it  was,  we  only  gave  ourselves  a 
chance,  and  have  deferred  going  till  we  had  a  wind 
favourable  for  crossing  the  Channel.  I  begin  to  suspect, 
in  all  cases,  the  effort  by  which  fear  is  surmounted  is 
more  easily  made  than  I  have  been  apt  to  suppose. 
Certainly  the  experience  I  have  had  on  this  occasion  will 
warrant  a  degree  of  confidence  more  than  I  have  ever 
hitherto  indulged.  I  would  not  wish  a  degree  of  confi- 
dence more  than  I  enjoyed  at  every  moment  of  the  time. 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

May  7,  1785 

What  time  will  you  receive  the  congratulations  of  your 

Terrestrial   Friends   on   your   return   to   Mortality  ?     0 

1  Add.  MSS.  37914  ff-  27-30. 

2  Windham  in  1796  stood  sponsor  for  a  son  of  James  Sadler  by  his 
second  wife,  who  was  christened  William  Windham  Sadler,  and 
achieved  fame  as  an  aeronaut.  In  Add.  MSS.  37925  will  be  found  some 
notes  on  Windham's  ascent  made  by  himself. 


1793]  ANOTHER  ASCENT  8i 

pater  anne  aliquas — itenimque  ad  tarda  reverti  corpora  ? 
The  rest  does  not  hold  exactly  in  the  words.  I  really  long 
to  converse  with  you  on  this  Voyage,  as  I  think  you  are 
the  first  rational  being  that  has  taken  flight. 

Adieu,  Star  triumphant,  and  some  Pity  show 
On  us  poor  battlers  militant  below. 


1 


Colonel  Richard  Fitzpatrick  to  William 

Windham 

Grosvenor  Place,  London 
June  27,  1785 

I  have  gratified  my  curiosity  in  a  flight  from  Oxford; 
where  your  protege  Sadler  (who,  by  the  by,  I  consider  as 
a  Phenomenon)  behaved  very  handsomely,  and  finding 
his  process  not  answer  his  expectations  and  the  balloon 
only  capable  of  carrying  up  one  person,  very  obligingly 
gave  me  up  his  place,  and  after  receiving  some  hasty 
instructions,  I  ascended  by  myself,  in  view  of  all  the 
University,  as  well  I  believe  as  of  the  whole  county.  Some 
of  your  friends  there,  Mrs.  Croft  and  Mrs.  Burgess,  were 
particularly  civil  to  me,  and  did  their  utmost  to  keep  the 
spectators  in  order,  but  in  vain,  for  the  curiosity  and 
eagerness  of  the  crowd  was  not  to  be  restrained.  The 
thermometer  was  broken,  and  your  barometer  had  a 
narrow  escape.  I  ascended  with  7  bags  of  ballast, 
the  weight  of  which  I  did  not  then  know,  but  which  was 
about  a  hundred  pounds.  I  had  told  Sadler  that  I 
would  not  take  his  balloon  very  far,  and  my  intention 
was  to  have  flown  about  two  hours,  but  as  I  wished  to 
ascend  as  high  as  possible  without  danger  to  the  balloon, 
after  having  first  try'd  the  valve  to  see  if  I  was  master  of 
the  use  of  it,  I  continued  rising  for  three  quarters  of  an 
hour,  when  I  suddenly  perceived  from  my  flag,  that  I  was 
descending.  I  discharged  gradually  five  of  my  bags  of 
ballast,  throwing  out  papers  between  each,  without  finding 

»  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  9. 


82  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

that  I  appeared  to  diminish  the  velocity  of  my  descent, 
till  the  5th,  when  the  paper  I  threw  out  floated  instead 
of  rising,  to  my  great  satisfaction,  since  I  perceived  some- 
thing had  happened  of  which  I  was  ignorant.  I  then 
determined  to  reserve  my  two  last  bags  till  I  was  certain  of 
being  very  near  the  earth,  and  fixed  one  of  them  to  the 
anchor  in  order  to  drop  it  and  break  the  fall  of  the 
machine.  When  I  saw  the  shadow  of  the  balloon  in- 
creasing very  fast,  and  could  plainly  distinguish  objects, 
so  small  as  horses  in  waggons  and  in  the  fields,  I  threw  out 
my  sixth  bag,  but  unluckily  when  I  was  preparing  the 
seventh  upon  the  anchor,  it  slipp'd  off,  and  fell  without  it. 
Within  a  very  few  seconds  I  came  to  the  ground  on  the 
side  of  a  steep  hill,  in  a  corn  field.  The  shock  was  trifling, 
but  the  unevenness  of  the  ground  overset  the  Car,  and 
rolled  me  gently  out.  Disentangling  myself  from  the 
cords,  1  held  fast  the  side  of  the  car,  and  with  some 
difficult}^  held  the  balloon  till  some  country  people  came  to 
my  assistance.  I  then  perceived  a  large  rent  in  the  lower 
part  of  it,  which  accounted  for  my  descent,  and  which,  I 
suppose,  by  a  more  judicious  use  of  the  valve  I  should 
have  prevented.  The  curiosit}^  and  astonishment  of  the 
country  who  flocked  in  by  shoals  were  prodigious.  I  got 
Sadler's  balloon,  however,  safe  in  a  stable,  and  waited  at 
a  little  publick  house  two  hours  for  his  arrival.  We  were 
then  conducted  with  great  triumph  about  5  miles  to 
Wantage  in  Berkshire,  where  we  dined,  but  as  I  did  not 
admire  this  triumphal  mode  of  travelling,  I  declined 
making  my  entry  in  to  Oxford,  and  got  on  by  myself  as 
far  as  Henley,  and  came  the  next  morning  on  to  London. 
The  field  where  I  descended  was  20  miles  from  Oxford,  and 
I  was  just  an  hour  on  the  voyage.  I  shall  endeavour 
to  promote  our  grand  project  both  for  our  own  amusement, 
and  I  hope  for  the  advantage  of  Sadler,  whom  I  really 
consider  as  a  prodigy,  and  who  is  oppressed,  to  the  dis- 
grace of  the  University,  I  believe  from  pique  and  jealousy 
of  his  superior  science.     Adieu,  Dear  Windham.     I  con- 


1793]  FITZPATRICK'S  ASCENT  83 

fine  myself  to  the  subject  of  aerostation  and  refrain  from 
earthly  considerations,  which  I  hope  you  are  coming  to 
look  after,  as  it  seems  parliament  is  likely  to  sit  the 
whole  summer.^ 

After  Fitzpatrick's  flight  it  was  some  time  before 
another  amateur  made  an  attempt.  The  craze  ended 
abruptly  when  the  news  came  that  on  June  15  M.  Pilatre 
de  Rosiere  and  M.  de  Roman,  in  their  endeavour  to  cross 
the  Channel  from  Boulogne,  had,  owing  to  the  balloon 
catching  fire,  been  dashed  to  the  ground  from  a  height  of 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  and  killed. 

»  Add.  MSS.  37914  ff.  32-33. 


CHAPTER  II 

1784-1792 

Windham's  early  speeches  :  His  attack  on  Warren  Hastings 
in  connection  with  the  Rohilla  war  :  Speaks  in  debate  on  the 
impeachment  of  Hastings  :  Wraxall's  appreciation  of  his 
powers  of  oratory  :  Appointed  a  manager  for  the  Commons 
of  Hastings'  trial  :  The  King's  illness  and  the  question  of  the 
Regency  :  The  commencement  of  the  French  Revolution  : 
Windham  opposes  Parliamentary  Reform  :  His  views  not 
entirely  in  accord  with  those  of  his  constituents  :  Doubtful  of 
the  safety  of  his  seat  :  Secures  re-election  1790  :  Extract  from 
Windham's  Diary  :  Publication  of  Burke's  "  Reflections  on 
the  French  Revolution  "  :  Rupture  between  Fox  and  Burke  : 
Windham  angry  with  Burke  :  They  soon  become  reconciled  : 
A  letter  to  Mrs.  Crewe  :  His  attitude  towards  Parliamentary 
Reform  :  The  political  breach  between  Fox  and  Windham  ; 
A  section  of  the  Opposition  supports  the  Government's  repres- 
sive measures. 

WINDHAM  Spoke  for  the  first  time  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  February  9,  1785,  in 
the  debate  on  the  Westminster  Scrutiny,  but 
in  his  Diary  there  is  only  the  bare  mention 
of  the  fact.  On  that  occasion  he  rose  after  Pitt,  and  was 
followed  by  Fox,  who  congratulated  the  House  "  on 
the  accession  of  the  abilities  which  they  had  witnessed." 
To  his  second  speech,  on  Maj^  12,  there  is  a  more  extended 
reference  in  the  Diary :  "  Spoke  for  the  second  time  in 
the  House  for  the  adjournment  of  the  debate  on  the  Irish 
Proposition.  Felt  more  possessed  than  on  the  former 
occasion,  but  thought  my  performance  inferior,  and  con- 
ceived that  others  thought  so  too.  I  have  found  since 
that  they  were  inclined  to  think  well  of  it.     They  are  so 

84 


1784-1792]  ATTACK  ON  WARREN  HASTINGS      85 

good  as  to  be  cheaply  pleased.  It  was  a  mere  effusion, 
though  delivered  in  a  forcible  and  perhaps  graceful 
manner,  containing  nothing  more  than  any  one  would 
have  thought  of  in  conversation." 

Windham  entered  the  House  of  Commons  with  a  con- 
siderable reputation  for  ability,  and  he  soon  showed  that 
rumour  had  not  magnified  his  gifts.  Not  a  great  orator, 
he  always  spoke  well  and  sensibly  and  to  the  point  ; 
and  was  listened  to  with  attention.  He  was  soon 
regarded  as  a  rising  man,  a  man  marked  out  for  office; 
and  the  first  proof  of  this  general  recognition  is  that  to 
him  was  entrusted  by  his  party  the  conduct  of  the  attack 
on  Warren  Hastings  in  the  debate  on  the  Rohilla  War.^ 

Extract  from  Windham's  Diary 

June  I,  1786.  Day  of  motion  on  the  Rohilla  War. 
...  I  there  [at  Brooks's]  got  from  Long  the  report  of 
the  Secret  Committee,  in  which  I  found  great  advantage, 
and  settled  to  come  the  next  morning  to  Sir  Philip 
Francis  ^  to  breakfast.  I  have  seldom  found  myself  more 
clear  than  during  my  visit  to  him,  and  afterwards,  till  I 

^  Faiz-uUah  Khan,  one  of  the  Rohilla  chiefs,  had  been  permitted  by 
treaty,  after  the  conquest  of  Rohilkhund  in  1774,  to  retain  possession  of 
Rampore  as  a  vassal  of  the  Nawab  of  Oude.  In  return  for  being 
permitted  to  maintain  a  small  army  for  his  own  protection,  he  was 
bound  to  place  at  the  Nawab's  disposal,  whenever  called  upon,  a  body  of 
troops,  the  number  of  which  should  not  exceed  three  thousand.  In 
1780,  the  Nawab,  acting  on  Hastings'  instructions,  demanded  from 
Faiz-uUah  Khan  five  thousand  horse.  As  this  was  more  than  he  could 
supply,  and  as  the  demand  was  unwarranted  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty, 
Faiz-ullah  refused  ;  whereupon  Hastings  informed  the  Nawab  that  he 
might  take  possession  of  Rampore,  and  add  it  to  his  kingdom.  This 
scheme  was  not,  however,  carried  out  ;  and  in  1782  Faiz-ullah  Khan 
paid  Hastings  a  sum  of  money  to  procure  his  exemption  from  supplying 
any  troops  at  all. 

2  Sir  Phihp  Francis  (1740-18 18),  the  reputed  author  of  the  Letters 
of  Junius,  had,  as  a  member  (i774-i78o)of  the  Council  of  the  Governor- 
General  in  India,  on  several  occasions  opposed  Hastings,  with  whom, 
in  August  1780,  after  many  quarrels,  he  fought  a  duel  at  Alipore,  and 
was  dangerously  wounded. 


86  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

went  to  the  House  :  but  somehow,  by  the  time  I  got  there, 
my  mind  had  got  into  some  disorder,  and  my  spirits  into 
some  agitation  ;  and  by  the  time  Burke  had  finished,  I 
found  myself  in  no  good  state  to  speak.  The  same  state 
continued,  though  with  a  Httle  amendment,  till  the  time 
of  my  rising  :  yet  I  contrived  somehow  to  steady  and 
recover  myself  in  the  course  of  speaking,  and  so  far 
executed  what  I  had  prepared,  that  I  conceive  it  to  be  the 
fashion  to  talk  of  what  I  did  as  rather  a  capital  per- 
formance !  'Tis  a  strong  proof  on  what  cheap  terms 
reputation  for  speaking  is  acquired,  or  how  capricious 
the  world  is  of  its  allotment  of  it  to  different  people. 
There  is  not  a  speech  of  mine  which,  in  comparison  of 
one  of  Francis's  would,  either  for  language  or  matter, 
bear  examination  for  one  moment ;  yet  about  my  per- 
formances in  that  way  a  great  fuss  is  made,  while  of 
his  nobody  speaks  a  word. 

In  the  following  year  Windham  spoke  again  in  a  debate 
on  the  impeachment  of  Hastings,  when  he  dealt  with  the 
same  charge.  This  task  he  performed,  says  Wraxall, 
"  with  that  logical  perspicuity,  characteristic  of  his  frame 
of  mind,  as  well  as  of  his  style  of  eloquence,  which  always 
borrowed  aid  from  metaphysical  sources."^  The  im- 
peachment was  voted  on  April  3,  1787,  and  Windham 
was  named  as  one  of  the  managers  of  the  trial  for  the 
House  of  Commons.  He  accepted  the  task,  but  was  not 
very  happy  over  his  appointment.  "  This  day — for 
which  we  have  all  been  waiting  so  anxiously,  so  earnestly," 
he  said  to  Fanny  Burney,  "  the  day  for  which  we  have 
fought,  for  which  we  have  struggled — a  day,  indeed,  of 
national  glory,  in  bringing  to  this  great  tribunal  a 
delinquent  from  so  high  an  ofiice — ^this  da}^  so  much 
wished,  has  seemed  to  me,  to  the  last  moment,  so  distant, 

^  "  Posthumous  Memoirs  "  (2nd  ed.),  ii.  276. 


R.  Buyney.  Ji/-'. 


S.  Hull,  sculpt 


KANNV    KURNKV 


1792]  THE  KING'S  ILLNESS  87 

that  now — now  that  it  has  actually  arrived,  it  takes  me 
as  if  I  have  never  thought  of  it  before — ^it  comes  upon  me 
all  unexpected,  and  finds  me  unready!"^  Windham 
was  not  one  of  the  most  active  of  the  managers  of  this 
famous  trial  which,  beginning  on  February  13,  1788, 
lasted  until  the  spring  of  1795,  when  Hastings  was 
acquitted  by  a  large  majority  on  all  counts  of  the 
impeachment. 

In  November  the  King  showed  such  obvious  indications 
of  mental  disorder  that  Parliament  had  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  a  Regency.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was,  of  course, 
the  person  marked  out  for  the  office  of  Regent,  and  Fox 
at  first  made  the  blunder  of  stating  that  his  Royal  High- 
ness had  the  legal  right  to  be  appointed,  a  position  from 
which  he  retreated  hurriedly  on  discovering  that  the 
powers  of  appointing  a  Regent  are  vested  in  Parliament. 
All  parties,  however,  were  agreed  that  the  Prince  was  the 
proper  person,  but  the  question  was  hotly  debated  in  the 
House  of  Commons  whether  he  should  be  given  a  full  or  a 
restricted  authority.  Windham  spoke  on  December  19  in 
favour  of  a  Regency  without  restrictions,  but  the  House 
decided  otherwise.  Before  the  Prince  took  up  the  office, 
however,  the  King  recovered. 

William  Windham  to 

Hill  Street :  November  26,  1788 
I  wish  it  had  occurred  to  me  sooner,  that  from  motives 
at  least  of  general  anxiety,  if  not  from  any  concerns  of 
business  capable  of  being  effected  by  such  causes,  you 
might  have  been  glad  to  receive  the  best  accounts,  that 
were  to  be  had,  of  the  King's  situation.  It  has  been  the 
fashion  hitherto,  and  till  lately  was  not  an  improper  one, 
to  speak  of  His  Majesty's  disorder  in  such  obscure  terms, 

^  Fanny  Burney,  "  Diary  "  (ed.  Ward),  ii.  ii6 


88  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

as  left  the  nature  of  it  quite  uncertain  ;  or,  if  it  was 
mentioned  more  particularly  to  describe  it  as  a  fever. 
It  were  much  to  be  wished,  that  fever  had  more  to  do 
with  it  :  but  the  fact  has  long  been  understood  to  be, 
that,  whatever  fever  His  Majesty  has  had,  has  been  only 
symptomatick,  and  not  at  all  the  cause  of  his  disorder, 
which  is  pure  and  original  insanity.  The  symptoms  of 
this  have  been  increasing  by  slow  degrees,  and  for  a  con- 
siderable period.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  before 
even  his  journey  to  Cheltenham,  some  of  these  had 
appeared  and  been  noted  :  and  there  is  no  doubt,  that, 
immediately  after,  the  appearances  were  so  strong  at  his 
levee,  that  the  foreign  ministers  all  remarked  them,  and 
thought  them  of  such  consequence,  as  instantly  to  write 
an  account  of  them  to  their  courts.  The  immediate 
occasion  of  the  Physicians  being  called  in,  and  means 
being  taken  to  prevent  his  Majesty  being  seen  any  more 
in  Publick,  is  said  to  have  happened,  during  an  airing 
He  was  taking  in  a  phaeton  with  the  Princess  Royal.  If 
there  were  any  hopes  of  the  King's  recovery  from  this 
state  and  so  speedily  as  to  render  the  substitution  of  any 
other  government  unnecessary,  his  situation  could  not  be 
concealed  with  too  much  care,  but  the  moment  that 
ceased  to  be  the  case,  too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  to 
make  it  known  publickly  and  authentically.  The  greatest 
aggravation,  which  such  a  calamity  could  receive, — and  a 
calamity  certainly  it  is  so  far  as  relates  to  the  feelings  of 
every  one  who  hears  it, — ^\vould  be  that  it  should  be 
subject  to  any  doubt  and  suspicion.  If  the  King  of  a 
country  is  completely  out  of  his  mind,  whatever  sorrow 
may  be  felt  for  that  event,  the  extent  of  the  evil  is,  how- 
ever, known :  It  is,  for  the  time  it  lasts,  just  as  if  the 
King  were  dead.  The  same  person  must,  upon  all  principles 
of  reason,  and  all  views  of  the  Constitution,  carry  on  the 
Government,  as  if  the  King  were  actually  dead — should 
he  again  be  restored  completely  to  his  senses,  the  case  is 
then  equally  clear  :  he  must  be  restored  completely  to  his 


1792]  A  MONARCH'S  INSANITY  89 

government.  Whatever  other  opinions  are  broached  or 
thrown  out  in  conversation  by  persons  on  either  side,  this 
seems  to  me  to  be  the  plain  sense  of  the  Matter,  as  we 
may  possibly  have  to  declare  or  act  upon  at  least,  before 
many  days.  The  only  case  of  danger  and  distress  is 
when  the  sanity  or  insanity  of  a  monarch  should  be  not 
clearly  ascertained  or  not  generally  known.  To  guard 
against  that,  in  the  instance  now  before  us,  I  think 
accounts  should  have  been  given  less  ambiguous,  less 
sophisticated  and  less  false,  than  have  been  industriously 
propagated  for  some  time  past :  and  whatever  motives  of 
delicacy  and  prudence  might  have  prevailed  at  first,  as 
undoubtedly  there  were  many,  the  case  seeming  now  to 
be  so  decided,  the  actual  insanity  to  be  so  complete,  and 
the  hopes  of  its  ever  ceasing  so  small,  that  any  attempt 
further  to  disguise  it  will  lye  open  to  very  uncreditable 
suspicions.^ 

During  the  previous  year,  from  the  end  of  August  to 
the  middle  of  October,  Windham  had  been  abroad 
travelling  with  Sylvester  Douglas  (afterwards  Lord 
Glenbervie).  Again  this  year,  1789,  with  the  same  com- 
panion he  went  to  France  for  about  a  month  from 
August  12.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  France 
was  at  this  time  in  the  early  throes  of  the  Revolution, 
that  the  Tiers-Etat  had  constituted  itself  the  National 
Assembly  on  June  17  ;  and  that  the  Bastille  had  been 
destroyed  on  July  14. 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

Beaconsfleld  :  September  27,  1789 

It  is  very  true,  that  I  promised  myself  the  satisfaction 

of  seeing  you  very  soon  after  your  return  from   the  Land 

of  Liberty.     I  am  sure  I  was  very  glad  of  your  safe  return 

1  Add.  MSS.  37873  f.  159. 


90  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

from  it  ;  for  though  I  had  no  doubt  of  your  prudence, 
where  no  duty  called  you  to  the  utterance  of  dangerous 
truths,  yet  I  could  not  feel  perfectly  at  my  ease  for  the 
situation  of  any  friend,  in  a  country  where  the  people, 
along  with  their  political  servitude,  have  thrown  off  the 
Yoke  of  Laws  and  morals,  I  could  certainly  wish  to 
talk  over  the  details  and  circumstances  with  you.  But 
the  main  matter  consists  in  the  results,  upon  the  general 
impression  made  upon  you  by  what  you  have  seen  and 
heard  ;  and  this  you  have  been  so  kind  to  communicate. 
That  they  should  settle  their  constitution,  without  much 
struggle,  on  paper,  I  can  easily  believe  ;  because  at  present 
the  Interests  of  the  Crown  have  no  party,  certainly  no 
armed  party,  to  support  them  ;  But  I  have  great  doubt 
whether  any  form  of  Government  which  they  can  estab- 
lish will  procure  obedience  :  especially  obedience  in  the 
article  of  Taxations.  In  the  destruction  of  the  old 
Revenue  constitution  they  find  no  difficulties — ^but  with 
what  to  supply  them  is  the  opus.  You  are  undoubtedly 
better  able  to  judge  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  to  me,  that 
the  National  assembly  have  one  jot  more  power  than  the 
King  ;  whilst  they  lead  or  follow  the  popular  voice,  in  the 
subversion  of  all  orders,  distinctions,  privileges,  imposi- 
tions, tythes,  and  rents,  they  appear  omnipotent ; 
but  I  very  much  question,  whether  they  are  in  a  condition 
to  exercise  any  function  of  decided  authority — or  even 
whether  they  are  possessed  of  any  real  deliberative 
capacity,  or  the  exercise  of  free  Judgement  in  any  point 
whatsoever  ;  as  there  is  a  Mob  of  their  constituents 
ready  to  Hang  them  if  they  should  deviate  into  modera- 
tion, or  in  the  least  depart  from  the  spirit  of  those  they 
represent.  What  has  happened  puts  all  speculation  to  the 
blush  ;  but  still  I  should  doubt,  whether  in  the  End 
France  is  susceptible  of  the  Democracy  that  is  the 
spirit,  and  in  a  good  measure  too,  the  form,  of  the  con- 
stitution they  have  in  hand  :  It  is,  except  the  Idea  of  the 
Crown  being  Hereditary,  much  more  truly  democratical 


1792]  PARLIAMENTARY  REFORM  91 

than  that  of  North  America.  My  son  has  got  a  letter  from 
France  which  paints  the  miserable  and  precarious  situa- 
tion of  all  people  of  property  in  dreadful  colours.  Indeed, 
the  particular  details  leave  no  doubt  of  it.  Pray  let 
me  hear  from  you  again  for  I  fear  it  will  not  be  in  my  power 
to  go  to  you  or  to  our  friend  Dudley  North — and  I  wish 
much  to  know  whether  the  manes  of  the  Enemies  of  honour 
and  common  sense  have  made  any  way  at  Norwich  ;  for 
I  had  much  rather  you  were  the  Spectator,  than  the 
victim  of  popular  madness.  Adieu,  my  dear  friend,  and 
believe  me,  ever  with  the  most  sincere  attachment. 

Truly  yours, 

Edm.  Burke.^ 

Windham  was  constant  in  his  attendance  at  the  House 
of  Commons,  On  March  4,  1790,  when  speaking  in  oppo- 
sition to  Flood's  motion  for  the  Reform  of  Parliament,  he 
aptly  put  the  question,  "  Wliat,  would  Mr.  Flood  recom- 
mend you  to  repair  your  house  in  this  hurricane  season  ?  " 
On  this  occasion  he  was  supported  only  by  Burke  among 
his  political  associates,  Fox  and  the  rest  of  the  party 
being  inclined  to  countenance  the  measure.  Pitt,  too, 
was  favourable  to  reform,  but  thought  with  Windham 
that  this  was  not  the  time  to  discuss  it  calmly,  and  at  his 
request  the  motion  was  withdrawn.  This  was  the  first 
occasion  on  which  there  were  signs  that  Windham  was 
drifting  away  from  the  notions  he  had  earlier  enter- 
tained. It  will  be  seen  later  that  he  who  was  in  his 
youth  an  advocate  for  reform,  in  later  days  could  with 
difficulty  be  brought  even  to  consider  any  measure 
involving  constitutional  reform. 

In  June  of  this  year  there  was  a  dissolution,  and  Wind- 
ham, not  without  reason,  for  his  views  on  some  matters 

1  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  15. 


92  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

were  not  in  accord  with  those  of  his  constituents,  was  of 
the  opinion  that  his  seat  was  shaky.  "  After  a  good  deal 
of  business  done  in  Norwich,  in  the  way  of  caUing,  carne 
away  at  half  past  twelve,"  he  had  noted  in  his  Diary  on 
March  16.  "  From  some  accounts  which  I  heard,  cannot 
help  entertaining  some  doubts  of  the  security  of  my  seat. 
Will  it  not  be  advisable  to  put  the  question  to  people  by  a 
species  of  select  canvass  ?  It  is  very  fair  to  say,  that  they 
never  know  enough  of  m.e  to  be  able  to  make  up  their 
minds,  and  that  I  may  reasonably  expect,  they  should 
declare  their  minds,  while  time  is  yet  left  to  me  to  look 
out  for  other  situations."  Windham  was,  however,  re- 
elected, in  spite  of  some  opposition. 

Extract  from  Windham's  Diary 

July  24,  1790.  I  felt  that  strong  sense  of  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  my  own  celibacy  ;  that  lively  conception  of  the 
pleasures  I  had  lost  ;  that  gloomy  apprehension  of  the 
conviction,  which  I  should  feel  of  this  hereafter,  clouding 
all  my  prospects,  relaxing  all  my  motives,  and,  in  an 
especial  manner,  destrojang  all  enjoyment,  that  I  might 
ever  have  in  residence  here, — ^that  unless  I  could  resolve 
manfully  to  fight  against  such  images,  and  force  my  mind 
from  the  contemplation  of  evils  admitting  no  remedy, 
the  most  fatal  mischief  must  ensue,  both  to  my  happi- 
ness, and  to  my  powers.  Of  this  resolution  the  necessity 
was  not  at  first  foreseen,  nor  the  resolution  of  consequence 
fully  taken.  These  images,  accordingly,  continued  to 
pursue  me,  during  the  time  of  my  absence  at  the  Assizes. 
The  effect  of  their  continuance,  during  that  time,  was 
sufficient  to  point  out  the  necessity  of  putting  a  speedy 
stop  to  them  ;  which  has,  accordingly,  since  then,  been 
pretty  effectually  done.  It  is,  indeed,  sufficiently  plain 
that  wisdom  must  condemn  the  thinking  on  uneasinesses, 
which  thinking  cannot  mend  :    the  hint  or  symbol  for 


1792]  BURKE'S  "  REFLECTIONS "  93 

enforcing  that  truth,  may  be  the  reflection  on  the  broken 
tea-cup  in  Rasselas.  The  precept  will  not  come  with  less 
weight,  for  coming  from  Dr.  Johnson  ;  nor  will  it  be  un- 
satisfactory, (o  me,  to  owe  to  him,  what  may  alleviate 
some  of  the  sorrows  of  life.^ 


Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

October  27,  1790 
I  have  seen  a  letter  of  yours  to  Mr.  Joshua  Reynolds, 
which  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  I  ever  read,  except  in 
one  short  Sentence,  or  rather  part  of  a  Sentence.  The 
pleasant  part,  you  may  think,  was  your  desire  of  the 
publication  of  my  Letter  of  which  you  had  seen  the 
beginning.^  But  though  this  was  flattering  to  me  on 
every  account,  I  hope  you  will  think  I  speak  of  the  general 
Tenour  of  your  Letter,  and  not  the  little  which  touched 
my  selfish  feelings.  If  you  had  seen  the  middle,  and 
end,  as  well  as  the  beginning  of  my  Book,  you  would 
have  given  me  such  lights,  as  might  make  you  perhaps 
the  less  repent  of  your  wish  of  my  holding  up  my  hand 
to  be  tried  by  my  Country  :  God  send  me  a  good  deliver- 
ance. To  you,  I  do  not  send  it  to  be  tried,  but  to  be 
protected  :  It  goes  to  an  Asylum  and  not  to  a  Court  of 
Justice  :  for  I  should  be  sorry,  that  you  were  as  well 
qualified  to  be  my  Judge  by  your  impartiality,  as  you 
are  by  your  penetration  and  your  skill.  You  dropped  a 
word,  as  if  you  thought  1  had  not  been  quite  fair  in  some 
of  my  representations.  This  gave  me  a  good  deal  of 
uneasiness.  In  this  Vein  I  looked  over  what  I  had 
written  with  some  attention.  It  is  possible  enough, 
that  in  the  infinite  variety  of  matter  contained  in  my 
original  Subject  I  may  have  made  some  Mistakes,  and 
I  wrote  sometimes  in  circumstances  not  favourable  to 
accuracy.     I  wrote  from  the  memory  of  what  I  had  read  ; 

1  Add.  MSS.  37921  f;  21. 

2  "  Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution  " 


94  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

and  was  not  able  always  to  get  the  documents  from  whence 
I  had  been  supplied  when  I  wished  to  verify  my  facts 
with  precision.  But  I  hope  my  errors  will  be  found  to  be 
rather  mistakes  than  misrepresentations.  I  am  quite 
sure,  that  in  most  of  my  statements,  I  have  rather  shot 
short  of  the  mark  than  beyond  it.  However,  where  I 
have  erred,  I  wish  to  be  corrected  ;  and  shall  certainly, 
if  the  Letter  (now  a  Book)  which  I  send  you  should  come 
to  a  new  Edition,  I  shall  thankfully  avail  myself  of  the 
advice  I  may  receive  from  you.  Accept  then  this  mark 
of  my  sincere  respect  and  affection,  the  last,  I  sincerely 
hope  of  the  kind,  with  which  I  shall  ever  trouble  my 
friends  or  the  publick.^ 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe  ^ 

Felbrigg  :  October  30,  1790 

1  have  behaved  very  ill  in  point  of  correspondence,  and 
very  undeserving  of  all  the  merits  you  have  shown 
towards  me.  The  cause  has  been,  not  as  before,  any 
uncomfortableness  of  mind  that  disinclined  one  to  exer- 
tion, but  good  genuine  dilatoriness,  such  as  makes  one 
often  defer  things  that  are  upon  the  whole  pleasant,  as 
well  as  those  that  are  unpleasant.  It  is  so  long  since  I 
received  your  letter,  that  I  hardly  remember  distinctly 
the  points  in  it  that  I  ought  to  answer.  The  time  fixed 
for  your  going  to  Welbeck  was  the  i8th,  I  think.  I  was 
not  without  thoughts  of  joining  you  ;  but  finding  upon 
enquiry,  that  it  was  a  hundred  and  eighty  miles  from  here, 
my  heart  failed  me,  and  I  resolved  upon  grubbing  on 
quietly  where  I  was.  You  must  know  that  in  one  respect 
the  longer  1  stay  here,  the  longer  I  feel  disposed  to  do  so  : 
for  though,  after  a  length  of  solitude,  company  becomes 

^  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  19. 

2  Frances  Anne  Crewe,  died  i8i8,  the  daughter  of  Fulke  Gre villa, 
and  the  wife  of  John,  afterwards  Baron,  Crewe.  She  was  a  noted  beauty, 
a  keen  poUtician,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Fox,  Burke,  Sheridan,  and 
Windham. 


1792]  POLITICIAN  OR  SCHOLAR  95 

more  pleasant,  there  is  both  in  long  continuance  in  one 
place  something  that  incapacitates  one  for  moving  ;  and 
to  me  here,  an  occupation  in  various  pursuits,  which  the 
more  time  I  have  to  engage  in  them  the  more  hold  they 
take  of  my  mind,  and  the  more  unwilling  I  am  to  quit 
them.  In  London  these  things  have  never  time  to 
attach  ;  but  here  they  have  nothing  to  weaken  and 
dissipate  their  effect,  and,  as  they  were  my  first  love, 
recover  all  their  original  empire.  It  would  have  been 
better  for  me,  perhaps,  that  I  had  never  meddled  with 
anything  else  ;  or,  meddling  with  other  things,  that  I  had 
begun  to  do  so  sooner.  From  some  cause  or  other  I  am 
now  a  little  of  two  characters,  and  good  in  neither  :  a 
politician  among  scholars,  and  a  scholar  among  politicians. 
As  Dr.  Johnson  said  from  Pope,  of  Lord  Chesterfield,  "  a 
wit  among  lords,  and  a  lord  among  wits." 

Under  the  present  half  of  this  divided  empire,  I  am  very 
sorry  that  Parliament  is  to  meet  before  Christmas  ;  and 
look  with  great  concern  to  the  termination  that  is  to  be  put 
in  three  weeks'  time  to  various  schemes  which  I  fancy 
now,  if  time  was  given  me,  I  could  pursue  to  some  effect. 
Of  the  business  that  we  are  to  meet  upon  I  am  as  ignorant 
as  need  be,  and  don't  at  all  know  what  the  right  judgment 
is  about  Pitt's  proceedings,  or  what  the  points  on  which 
principally  he  is  to  be  attacked.  I  have,  in  fact,  for  some 
time  past,  nearly  forgot  that  I  had  anything  to  do  with  it  : 
though  a  late  great  politician,  who  has  been  unexpectedly 
thrown  upon  this  coast  like  a  whale,  has  within  these 
few  days  a  little  awakened  my  political  ardour.  The 
little  fishing  town  that  is  within  two  miles  of  me  has 
contained  no  less  a  man  than  Colonel  Barre.^  The  history 
of  his  coming  here  is  not  a  writ  of  outlawry  nor  any 
warrant  issued  against  him  for  treasonable  practices,  but 
his  having  been  on  a  visit  to  Lord  Townshend,  and  been 

1  Colonel  Isaac  Barre  (i 726-1 802),  fought  by  Wolfe's  side  at  Quebec. 
He  retired  from  tlie  Army  in  1773,  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
pontics.  John  Britton  in  1848  wrote  a  volume  to  prove  that  Barre 
wrote  the  letters  of  "  Junius." 


96  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

tempted  to  proceed  thus  far,  on  occasion  of  some  of  the 
children  having  been  sent  hither  to  bathe.  To  you  who 
don't  know  the  seclusion  of  this  corner  of  the  world, 
but  who  live  in  all  the  resort  of  the  Palatinate,  there  may 
appear  in  this  event  nothing  wonderful  :  but  you  cannot 
conceive  to  us  what  the  appearance  is  of  any  one  besides 
the  natives,  or,  as  we  should  describe  it,  of  one  out  of  the 
shires.  As  I  could  not  prevail  upon  him  to  take  up  his 
abode  with  me,  I  must  go  down,  I  think,  and  see  him  again 
to-day. 

One  of  the  circumstances  to  render  me  less  inclined 
to  remove  to  London  at  this  time,  one  at  least  of  the 
motives  wanting,  is,  I  conclude,  that  we  must  not  look 
for  you  there.  I  fear  I  shall  hardly  be  able  in  the  interval 
between  the  breaking  up  and  the  meeting  of  Parliament, 
again  to  get  as  far  as  Cheshire.  I  had  an  invitation  the 
other  day  from  Lord  John,  to  renew  my  hunting  in 
Northamptonshire,  and  I  made  during  the  winter  a  half 
promise  to  Lady  Spencer  to  go  at  Christmas  to  Althorpe, 
But  all  this  is  dark  and  doubtful ;  and  nothing  certain 
but  death  and  taxes,  and  that  Pitt  will  come  out  with 
new  lustre  from  all  the  present  measures,  and  heap  new 
confusion  on  his  oppositionists.  Farewell  !  I  must  live 
upon  hope,  with  the  aid  of  a  letter  now  and  then.  Re- 
member me,  pray,  to  Crewe,  and  to  all  that  are  obliging 
enough  to  think  of  me  ;  my  thanks  to  Mrs.  Lane  ^  and 
Mrs.  Bouverie.^ 

Extract  from  Windham's  Diary 

November  7,  1790.  On  Thursday  I  conceive  it  was; 
that  a  material  incident  happened — the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Burke's  pamphlet.^  Never  was  there,  I  suppose,  a  work 
so  valuable  in  its  kind,  or  that  displa3^ed  powers  of  so 

^  Sarah,  sister  of  John  Crewe  and  wife  of  Obadiah  Lane. 
2  The  Crewe  Papers  :  Windham  Section,  pp.  5-10  ("  Miscellanies  "  of 
the  Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 

2  "  Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution,"  published  November  i. 


■■J 


o 


!>> 


1792]  BURKE  RENOUNCES  FOX  97 

extraordinary  a  sort.  It  is  a  work  that  may  seem 
capable  of  overturning  the  National  Assembly,  and  turning 
the  stream  of  opinion  throughout  Europe.  One  would 
think,  that  the  author  of  such  a  work,  would  be  called  to 
the  government  of  his  country,  by  the  combined  voices 
of  every  man  in  it.  What  shall  be  said  of  the  state  of 
things  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  writer  is  a  man 
decried,  persecuted,  and  proscribed  ;  not  being  much 
valued,  even  by  his  own  party,  and  by  half  the  nation 
considered  as  little  better  than  an  ingenious  madman  ? 

The  French  Revolution,  so  far-reaching  in  its  effects, 
had  laid  the  foundation  of  the  breach  between  Fox  and 
Burke.  Fox  was  enthusiastic  about  the  French  people, 
and  on  all  occasions  expressed  his  sympathies  with  the 
popular  cause  :  Burke,  on  the  other  hand,  was  most  bitter 
about  everything  connected  with  the  Revolution  and  did 
not  disguise  his  contempt  for  all  who  thought  that  some- 
thing good  might  ultimately  result  from  the  terrible  up- 
heaval. So  far  there  had  been  no  open  breach  between 
the  statesmen,  although  it  was  clear  that  they  could  not 
long  continue  to  work  together.  The  quarrel  came  at  last 
in  a  debate  on  May  6,  1791,  on  the  Quebec  Bill.  In  his 
speech  Burke  lamented  the  loss  of  friendship  that  arose 
from  the  view  he  took  of  the  Revolution.  To  this  the 
great-hearted  Fox  replied,  that  there  was  not,  and  could 
not  be,  any  loss  of  friendship  between  them.  "  Yes,  there 
is,"  Burke  said.  "  I  know  the  price  of  ray  conduct,  I 
have  done  my  duty  at  the  price  of  my  friend — our  friend- 
ship is  at  an  end."  When  Fox  rose  again,  it  is  recorded 
that  some  minutes  passed  before  he  could  speak  for  the 
tears  that  choked  his  utterance. 

The  conduct  of  both  men  was  characteristic.  It  is 
not  surprising,  however,  that  the  sympathy  of  nearly  every 

I  G 


98  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

one  went  out  to  Fox.  What  Windham  thought  may  be 
deduced  from  the  brief  entry  in  his  Diary  :  "  Fatal  day 
of  rupture  with  Burke."  So  deeply  did  he  feel  on  the 
subject  that  he  excused  himself  from  dining  on  May  16 
with  Lord  Petre  if  Burke  was  to  be  of  the  party.  Wind- 
ham was  at  the  House  of  Commons  the  next  day,  when,  he 
noted,  "  the  only  circumstance  that  did  give  me  satisfac- 
tion was  some  overtures  of  reconciliation  from  Burke."  ^ 
Soon  they  were  again  on  excellent  terms,  which  endured 
untn  Burke's  death  six  years  later. 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe 

Paris  :  September  15,  1791 

I  don't  like  to  let  another  post  go  without  a  line, 
though  I  have  not  time  enough  to  make  a  letter  suited 
by  its  contents  to  be  sent  such  a  distance.  'Tis  some- 
thing, however,  to  know  that  your  letter  is  received,  Rue 
des  Petits  Augustins,  at  Paris.  The  most  important 
information,  however,  in  its  consequences  to  me  is,  that  a 
letter  to  find  me  here  should  be  sent  to  Mons.  Perregaux, 
Banquier.  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  long  without  profiting 
by  the  communication.  To  earn  my  hopes  by  the 
readiest  way  that  the  time  will  aUow,  let  me  tell  3^ou 
that  on  my  arrival  I  found  at  the  Hotel  de  I'Universite, 
Payne,^  General  Dalrymple,^  Lord  Palmerston,*  Lord 
Hardwicke*  and  W.  W3^ndham,  Lord  Egremont's  2nd 
brother.  The  two  last  had  come  over,  leaving  their 
wives  at  Spa,  and  are  now  both  gone  back.  To  replace 
them  are  arrived  Sir  William  and  (late  Mrs.  Harte,  now) 

1  Windham's  "  Diary,"  May  i6,  1791. 

2  (?)  Captain  (afterwards  Admiral)  John  WiUett  Payne  (1752-1803), 
an  intimate  friend  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

3  Colonel    Hew    Whitefoord    Dalrymple    (1750-1830),    Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Guernsey  ;   baronet,  181 5. 

4  Henry  Temple,  second  Viscount  Palmerston  (1739-1802),  a  member 
of  "  The  Club." 

6  Phihp    Yorke,    third    Earl     of     Hardwicke    (1757-1834),    Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  1801-1806. 


1792]  ATTENDS  THE  ASSEMBLY  99 

Lady  Hamilton.  They  came  the  day  before  yesterday  and 
I  am  going  this  morning  to  see  them  ;  but,  however  I  may 
fear  being  too  late,  I  will  not  miss  the  opportunity  of 
sending  this.  There  is  another  Lady  also  expected  here 
whose  presence  could  not  fail  to  make  Paris  very  interest- 
ing to  me  :  but  as  she  was  to  come  with  Lady  R.  Douglas, 
and  Lady  R.  is  said  to  be  prevented  by  a  miscarriage  or 
some  increase  of  ill-health,  we  shall  probably  lose  the 
pleasure  of  her  company.  This  is  all  that  I  know  of 
compan}^  about  which  you  will  be  much  interested,  not 
having  yet  seen  your  son  or  knowing  for  certain  whether 
he  is  here.  I  might  have  mentioned  indeed  Lord  Thanet,^ 
who  arrived  the  same  day  as  myself,  with  a  Hungarian 
lady,  whom  as  a  brilliant  achievement  he  carried  off  from 
her  husband  at  Vienna  ;  and  who,  as  well  as  himself,  is 
now  suffering  for  their  sins,  by  the  most  complete  weari- 
ness (as  I  should  suppose)  of  one  another.  Crauford 
(James)  is  likewise  here,  and  in  the  same  hotel  with 
myself.  Hare^  has  likewise  been  here  for  some  time. 
Having  begun,  like  a  good  Englishman,  with  an  account 
of  the  English  company,  I  may  now  just  mention  the 
little  event  that  took  place  yesterday  of  the  King's 
acceptance  of  the  constitution.  By  the  extreme  friendly 
activity  of  Noailles  (ci-devant  Vicomte)  ^  I  got  a  place 
in  the  Assembly  and  was  present  at  the  whole  ceremony. 
There  was  great  respect  and  great  applause,  but  the 
nature  of  the  proceeding  was  necessarily  humiliating,  and 
some  circumstances  in  the  conduct  of  it  rendered  it  still 
more  so.  Before  the  King  appeared,  two  very  splendid 
chairs  were  placed,  one  of  which  I  was  surprised  to  see 
occupied  by  the  president,  who  pronounced  from  thence, 
he  and  the  King  being  for  some  time  the  only  persons 

^  Sackville  Tufton,  ninth  Earl  of  Thanet  {1767-1825).  The  Hun- 
garian lady  was,  presumably,  Anne  Charlotte  de  Bojanoiwitz,  whom  he 
married  at  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square,  February  28,  181 1. 

2  James  Hare  (1749-1804),  M.P.  for  Knaresborough  1781-1804, 
an  intimate  friend  of  Fox. 

3  Louis  Marie,  Vicomte  de  Noailles  (1756-1804),  fifth  son  of  Philippe 
de  Noailles,  Due  de  Mouchy. 


100  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

sitting,  a  long  lecture,  in  which,  besides  the  objection  on 
account  of  its  length,  there  was  somewhat  too  much  of 
"  la  nation,"  and  somewhat  too  little  of  "  le  Roi."  The 
principle  of  this  equality  between  King  and  president 
was,  no  doubt,  that  the  president  represented  the  nation  : 
but  that  principle  followed  up  should  have  put  the  King 
upon  the  footstool,  with  the  president's  foot  on  his  neck  : 
for  there  is  no  doubt,  to  me  at  least,  in  theory  as  well  as 
in  their  practice,  that  the  nation,  rightly  understood,  is 
all  in  all.  It  would  have  been  much  better,  in  my  mind, 
if  being  bound  in  courtesy  to  remit  much  they  had  carried 
their  courtesy  a  little  further  and  remitted  more.  I  hope 
that  we  shall  be  the  people  to  keep  up  a  little  of  the 
"  vielle  cour  "  in  our  manners,  while  we  lose  nothing  of  the 
solid  advantages  and  privileges  that  the  new  system  can 
promise.^ 

William  Windham  to  W.  J.  Gurney 

Hill  Street,  May  2,  1792 

My  mind  is  so  full  of  the  measures  which  made  the 
subject  of  our  debate  on  Monday  ^  that  I  can  hardly  for- 
bear writing  or  speaking  to  any  friend,  who  I  think  likely  to 
have  ideas  at  all  similar  to  my  own  upon  the  subject. 
Though  my  declaration  upon  the  occasion  was  not  exactly 
what  some  of  the  papers  have  put  in  my  mouth,  that 
*  whenever  or  in  whatever  shape  a  motion  for  Parlia- 
mentary Reform  was  brought  forward,  I  would  oppose  it ' 
(such  a  declaration  exceeding  even  my  objections  to 
Parliamentary  Reform,  and  being  such  as  no  man  hardly 
would  make),  yet  nothing  can  be  more  decided,  than  my 
hostility  to  the  measures  now  pursuing  nor  than  my 
determination  to  oppose  them  to  the  utmost  extremity. 

You  will  not  be  surprised  at  this  determination,  when 

^  The  Crewe  Papers:  Windham  Section,  p.  ii  ("Miscellanies"  of 
the  Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 

2  Charles  (afterwards  second  Earl)  Grey  had  given  notice  on  April  30 
that  in  the  following  session  of  Parliament  he  would  introduce  a 
measure  of  parliamentary  reform. 


1792]       THE  REVOLUTION  IN  ENGLAND  loi 

I  tell  you,  as  I  did  to  the  House,  though  they  have 
omitted  I  see  in  the  papers,  that  part  of  what  I  said,  that 
in  my  opinion  this  is  little  short  of  the  commencement  of 
civil  troubles,  I  can  consider  it  as  nothing  but  the  first 
big  drops  of  that  storm,  which  having  already  deluged 
France  is  driving  fast  to  this  country.  I  have  in  general 
been  far  from  adverse  to  the  principles  and  cause  of  the 
French  Revolution.  So  much  otherwise  indeed,  that 
from  the  beginning  almost,  Mr.  Burke  and  I  have  never 
exchanged  a  word  on  the  subject.  But  when  an  attempt 
is  made  to  bring  the  same  principles  home  to  us,  Principles 
in  a  great  measure  extravagant  and  false  and  which  at 
best  have  no  practical  application  here,  I  shall  ever  prove 
myself  as  violent  an  opposer  of  them  as  Mr.  Burke  or  any 
one  can  be. 

It  is  as  the  commencement  of  changes  similar  to  those 
that  have  taken  place  in  France,  that  I  view  the  measures 
now  declared  ;  though  far  from  being  so  considered  or 
intended,  on  the  part  of  the  authors  of  them,  or  of  the 
greater  number  possibly  of  those  by  whom  they  may  be 
supported.  I  think,  however,  that  this  is  the  conclusion 
to  which  they  are  directly  and  rapidly  tending  ;  and 
which  can  only  be  prevented  by  a  timely  alarm  spread 
among  all  people,  who  may  think  the  happiness  which 
this  country  has  hitherto  enjoyed  too  valuable  to  be 
risked  on  experiments,  hitherto  unconfirmed  by  anything 
like  an  adequate  trial,  nor  recommended  even  by  any 
theory  (if  theory  on  such  subjects  were  worth  a  farthing) 
that  has  been  known  in  the  world  till  within  these  half- 
dozen  years. 

Mr.  Grey  and  some  other  gentlemen,  men  very  respect- 
able both  for  their  talents  and  characters,  and  with  whom 
I  am  most  closely  connected,  seeing  this  danger,  and 
feeling  about  it  as  I  do  myself,  are  of  opinion,  or  rather 
were,  (for  I  am  not  sure  whether  already  some  of  them 
do  not  begin  to  be  alarmed)  that  the  only  way  to  avert 
this  danger,  was  to  anticipate  its  arrival,  and  by  timely 


102  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

concession,  and  changes  temperately  and  judiciously 
made,  to  quiet  the  minds  of  people,  and  defeat  the  projects 
of  those  who  may  wish  for  changes  of  a  different  character. 
Undoubtedly  this  is  a  policy  very  easily  understood,  and 
that  may  in  various  cases  be  the  best  to  be  pursued.  It 
would  have  been  happy  had  this  been  followed  in  the  case 
of  America.  It  would  have  been  wise  to  have  done  the 
same  thing  in  the  case  of  Ireland  :  it  is  to  be  wished  that 
the  same  course  were  pursued  with  respect  to  the  Catho- 
licks  of  Ireland  at  this  moment.  But  this  policy,  though 
often  good,  is  like  every  other  prudential  measure,  very 
often  not  so,  and  the  question  is,  whether  it  is  so  or  not 
in  the  present  instance.  I  am  setting  aside  for  the 
present,  all  consideration  of  the  measures  themselves, 
which  they  propose,  viz.,  the  enlarging  the  representa- 
tion and  shortening  the  duration  of  parliament, — ^the 
former  of  which  may  possibly  in  a  very  moderate  degree  be 
desireable  rather  than  not,  and  the  latter  of  which,  I  con- 
ceive to  be  clearly  hurtful.  I  am  considering  them  merely 
with  a  view  to  the  effect,  which  they  propose  by  them,  of 
defeating  the  schemes  of  those,  who  mean  nothing  short 
of  a  complete  overthrow  of  the  present  constitution. 

Now  for  this  purpose,  I  am  persuaded  they  will  produce 
an  effect  directly  the  reverse  of  that  which  their  authors 
intend  ;  and  this  opinion  I  ground  upon  the  considera- 
tion, that  their  reform,  should  they  ever  introduce  it, 
would  only  be  one  of  many  thousands,  which  others 
have  proposed,  who  of  consequence  will  be  little  satisfied 
with  Mr.  Grey's  Reform  or  Constitution,  as  he  or  they 
may  now  be  with  the  present  one.  You  cannot  with  one 
measure  satisfy  all  schemes.  Your  measure  can  be  but 
one,  your  schemes  are  infinite,  many  of  them  the  most 
discordant  and  opposite.  Does  he  suppose  for  instance, 
that,  by  any  plan  which  he  will  recommend,  he  will  satisfy 
V  those  who  say  that  every  Government  is  an  usurpation 
upon  the  rights  of  man,  in  which  every  individual  has  not 
a  vote  ?     Does  he  suppose,  that  he  can  ever  form  a  House 


1792]  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  CHANGE  103 

of  Commons,  from  which  influence,  much  of  it  undue,  will 
be  excluded,  or  on  which,  such  influence,  whether  existing 
or  not,  may  not  always  be  charged  ?  When  the  principle 
of  change,  such  as  that  now  adopted,  is  once  established, 
of  change  not  founded  on  a  comparison  of  a  specifick 
grievance  with  a  specifick  remedy,  but  proceeding  on  a 
general  speculation  of  benefits  to  arise  from  this  or  that 
mode  of  constituting  a  Parliament,  what  is  there  that  is 
to  put  a  stop  to  it,  till  we  run  the  full  career  of  all  that  the 
speculators  of  the  present  day  may  wish  to  drive  us  to  ? 
We  must  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact,  that  there  is  at  this 
time  a  spirit  very  generally  diffused,  as  it  has  been  very 
wickedly  excited,  of  changing  the  present  constitution  of 
things  without  any  distinct  view  of  what  is  to  be  substi- 
tuted in  its  room.  The  promoters  of  this  spirit  call  the 
means  which  they  apply,  an  appeal  to  reason.  But  to 
whose  reason  do  they  appeal  ?  To  the  reason  of  those, 
who  they  know  can  be  no  judges  of  the  question.  To 
the  reason  of  the  very  lower  orders  of  the  community, 
whom  it  is  easy  to  make  discontented,  as  their  situation 
must  ever  render  them  too  apt  to  be,  but  whom  no  man, 
not  meaning  to  betray  them  would  ever  erect  into 
judges  of  the  first  moral  principles  of  Government,  or 
of  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  great  political 
measures. 

It  will  be  well  worth  the  while  of  people  not  indifferent 
to  their  own  interests,  whatever  experiments  they  may 
wish  to  make  with  those  of  other  people,  to  consider, 
whether  this  practice  of  teaching  all  the  world  to  submit 
to  nothing  but  what  their  reason  can  satisfy  them  of  the 
truth  of,  may  not  proceed  in  time  to  lengths  which  they 
will  not  much  like ;  and  whether  they  do  not  conceive, 
that  upon  this  doctrine  of  universal  rights  arguments 
might  be  brought,  such  at  least  as  an  audience  of  labour- 
ing men  may  think  satisfactory,  why  there  should  be  an 
equality  of  propertj^  as  well  as  an  equality  of  voting. 
Hints  of  this  sort  have  already  been  thrown  out,  I  think, 


rC' 


104  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

in  Mr.  Payne's  pamphlet.  I  am  sure  it  would  not  be 
difficult  to  improve  them  in  a  way  to  make  them  circulate 
among  the  lower  people,  as  rapidly  as  arguments  about 
the  principles  of  government  are  said  now  to  do 
among  the  workmen  at  Sheffield.  They  have  already 
abolished  in  France  all  titles  and  distinctions,  a  species  of 
property  surely  as  innocent  as  any  that  can  be  con- 
ceived, and  which,  on  being  given  to  one  man,  does  not 
seem  to  take  anything  from  another.  They  have 
abolished  likewise  in  great  measure  the  right  of  persons 
to  dispose  of  their  property  by  will.  What  are  all  the  laws 
of  property  but  the  mere  creatures  of  arbitrary  appoint- 
ment ?  And  who  shall  be  able  to  derive  any  one  of  them 
by  a  regular  deduction  from  natural  rights,  so  at  least, 
as  not  to  admit  endless  disputes  about  the  authenticity 
of  the  pedigree  ?  Suppose  some  one  should  take  it  into 
their  head  to  write  a  work  addressed  to  the  labouring  people, 
exposing  to  them  the  iniquity  of  that  system  which  con- 
demns half  the  world  to  labour  for  the  other,  and  pleading 
for  such  a  partition  of  goods,  as  may  give  to  every  one 
a  competence  and  leave  to  none  a  superfluity.  I  am 
certainly  not  meaning  to  say  that  such  arguments  would 
be  good  ones  :  I  am  not  meaning  to  say,  that  they  might 
not  be  easily  answered,  but  I  should  be  sorry  to  undertake 
to  answer  them,  in  an  auditory  such  as  composes  the 
majority  of  every  parish  in  England.  For  some  time 
the  habitual  respect  which  the  laws  have  taught  for 
property,  would  perhaps  prevail  :  but  when  you  have 
once  well  taught  men  to  consider  the  power  from  which 
such  laws  proceed,  as  an  usurpation,  how  much  longer 
will  the  respect  remain  for  regulations,  unfavourable  to 
their  interests,  which  that  power  has  ordained  ?  How 
long  will  men  acquiesce  in  laws,  which  condemn  them  to 
poverty,  when  they  are  to  be  maintained  on  no  other 
ground  than  such  agreement,  as  they  can  discern  in  them, 
with  natural  rights  ?  Why  publications  of  this  sort 
should  not  be  put  forth,  I  don't  see.     You  cannot  punish 


1792]  RISKS  OF  CIVIL  CONFUSION  105 

them  on  any  principles  which  permit  the  pubHcation  of 
many  works  now  circulating  ;  and  you  cannot  dispute  the 
competency  of  the  common  people  to  judge  of  the  question 
of  property,  when  you  allow  them  to  be  judges  of  what 
are  certainly  not  less  difficult,  the  first  principles  of 
Government. 

But  I  will  not  tire  you  nor  myself  by  going  on  with 
this  subject,  on  which  one  might  write  volumes,  without 
stating  all  the  wildness  and  danger  of  the  principles  now 
abroad.  My  own  serious  opinion  is  that  unless  men  of 
all  descriptions  write  to  say,  that  they  will  not,  on  mere 
general  hopes  of  improvement,  consent  to  change  a  state 
of  things  which  has  produced  and  is  still  producing  a 
degree  of  happiness,  security  and  liberty  unknown  hitherto 
in  the  world,  we  shall,  before  we  are  aware  of  it,  be 
involved  in  all  the  horrors  of  civil  confusion.  If  we  are, 
it  will  be  an  example  of  human  folly  and  madness,  such 
as  the  world  has  never  yet  exhibited.  That  a  nation 
great  and  happy  as  this  is,  raised  to  a  degree  of  splendour 
that  has  made  us  the  admiration  of  the  world,  enjoying 
the  most  perfect  liberty  united  with  all  the  blessings  of 
order,  possessing  at  this  moment  peculiar  advantages 
from  the  distracted  state  of  many  countries  around  us, 
and  seeing  in  no  country  any  one  advantage  that  we  do 
not  enjoy  ourselves  in  a  superior  degree,, — that  such  a 
nation  should  at  once,  upon  the  mere  assurance  of  certain 
persons  that  they  can  make  us  better,  put  all  these 
blessings  to  hazard  and  risk  the  falling  into  universal  con- 
fusion is  a  degreg  of  extravagance  which  can  be  called 
by  no  name  but  that  of  madness.  In  such  madness,  as 
it  appears  to  me,  I,  for  one,  will  not  be  a  partaker,  I 
hope  that  among  my  friends  at  Norwich  there  are  many 
that  are  in  the  same  sentiments.  Such  sentiments  are, 
I  am  sure,  very  much  wanted  :  but  there  is  nowhere  that 
I  should  so  much  like  to  find  them,  as  among  persons  with 
whom  I  am  otherwise  so  much  connected.^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37873!.  172. 


io6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

The  political  breach  between  Fox  and  Windham  grew 
wider,  though  they  did  not  allow  their  differences  in 
Parhament  to  interfere  with  their  private  friendship.  In 
May  1792  the  Government  issued  a  Proclamation  against 
Seditious  Meetings.  This  Fox  opposed  tooth  and  nail, 
but  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Lord  Spencer,  Lord  Fitz- 
william,  and  Windham,  with  others  of  the  party,  thought 
it  their  duty  to  the  country  to  support  Pitt  on  this  and 
similar  occasions. 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

Bulstrode  :  October  13,  1792 
I  am  not  without  my  fears  that  this  letter  may  increase 
the  gloom  into  which  the  Duke  of  Brunswick's  retreat 
has  very  naturally  thrown  you,  because  you  wiU  find  no 
contradiction  or  any  explanation  of  the  event  but  what 
you  have  already  seen  in  the  Papers,  which  in  my  appre- 
hension very  sufficiently  accounts  for  it,  because  since  it 
took  place  I  have  not  received  a  single  line  of  intelligence 
from  any  person  whatever.  I  met  a  person  belonging  to 
the  Secretary  of  State's  office,  the  beginning  of  this  week, 
who  assured  me  that  everybody  now  knew  as  much  of 
France  as  Ministers  did,  and  probably  more,  for  that 
Thelluson  ^  received  the  earliest  and  best  information 
from  thence,  and,  he  believed  that  what  came  to  the 
Secretary  of  State's  office  was  the  last  and  the  worst. 
All  I  have  to  send  you,  therefore,  are  my  hopes,  and  they 
are  confident  and  not  wholly  unfounded  that  there  is  too 
large  a  portion  of  good  sense,  or  self-interest,  or  indolence, 
or  indecision,  or  dislike  of  novelty,  or  attachment  to 
old  habits,  or  in  short  something  that,  if  it  is  not  good 
sense,  will  be  a  substitute  for  it  which  wiU  prevent 
our  being  overrun  by  French  Principles,  and  as  for 
French    arms,    my  dread  of  them  will  not  disturb  me 

^  Peter Thellusson  (i737-i797),amerchantconnected  with  the  Paris 
banking  house  of  that  name. 


1792]         THE  QUESTION  OF  ANARCHY  107 

much,   for   I   do  not  believe  that    anything    could    so 
effectually  animate  and  unite  us  as  an  armed  attempt 
from  France  to  force  us  to  accept  Anarchy.     You  see 
that  I  am  of  opinion  that  we  have  both  vigor  and  wisdom 
sufficient  to  resist  such  an  attempt ;  and  that  opinion  is 
founded  on  the  very  general  diffusion  and  distribution  of 
property,  the  perfect  security  in  which  it  is  enjoyed,  the 
great  opulence  and  prosperity  of  the  Country  and  the 
superabundance  of  employment  and  wages  for  the  manu- 
facturers of  all  descriptions,  who  are  the  most,  and  indeed 
the  only,  turbulent  part  of  our  community.     The  Army, 
small  as  it  is,  I  believe  to  be  perfectly  safe,  and  to  be 
depended  upon  and  quite  sufficient  to  support  the  Civil 
Power  which,  with  that  confidence  it  will  derive  from  the 
military,  is  very  able,  with  the  assistance  of  the  well  dis- 
posed part  of  the  Community,  to  preserve  good  order 
and  defeat  any  hostile  designs  or  undertakings  against 
the  present  Constitution  of  our  Government.     I  am  sure 
there  are  Men  in  this  Country  (and  there  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  one  in  France),  for  though  it  has  been  the 
system   of   the   present    Reign   to   annihilate  them,    in 
that  it  has  not  succeeded,  and  they  still  exist,  and  I  trust 
and  believe,   there  will  be   found  enough   to  save  the 
Country,     even     from     being     attempted      I    do     not 
know    whether    you  will  concur  with  me  on  this  point 
and  perhaps  it  is  as  well  you  should  not,  for  too  much 
and   too   general   confidence   might   ruin   us.     Do   you 
therefore  continue  to  despond  and  to  exert  yourself,  and 
I  will  be  sanguine  and  not  idle.^ 

Lord  Mulgrave  to  William  Windham 

Harley  Street:  December  i,  1792 
If  I  were  to  say  half  I  wish  on  the  various  subjects  in 
your  letter,  I  should  not  save  the  post.      I   will,  there- 
fore, write  more  fully  hereafter.  I  find  the  same  timid 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  5. 


io8  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1784- 

disinclination  to  he  first  amongst  those  to  whom  I  apply, 
as  you  complain  of  in  your  part  of  the  country,  to  which 
there  is  nothing  to  be  said  but  that  those  who  are  the  last 
to  exert  themselves  in  defence  of  their  rights  frequently 
are  or  always  ought  to  be  the  first  to  lose  them.  Govern- 
ment, however,  are  doing  their  part  with  vigour,  by  this 
night's  proclamation  (which  I  am  in  momentary  expecta- 
tion of  receiving  to  enclose  to  you) .  You  will  find  that  in 
consequence  of  the  tumult  in  Scotland,  a  part  of  the 
Militia  is  to  be  immediately  embodied.  A  nice  selection  of 
the  corps  most  to  be  depended  upon  is  precluded  by  the 
locality  of  the  grounds  upon  which  the  force  is  embodied. 
Eleven  counties  are  to  be  called  upon,  amongst  which 
Norfolk  is  to  be  one,  and  the  first  impression  of  the 
Gazette  is  to  be  sent  to  me  to  transmit  to  you,  because  my 
friends  do  you  the  justice  to  rely  on  your  giving  this 
measure  the  turn  of  encouragement  to  those  who  wish 
well  to  good  order,  instead  of  suffering  it  to  have  the 
effect  of  alarming  them  with  apprehensions  of  unforeseen 
and  latent  dangers  ;  the  consequence  of  this  measure  will 
of  course  be  that  the  Parliament  will  assemble  within  a 
fortnight,  when  I  trust  that  unanimity,  firmness  and 
exertion  will  dispel  the  Dangers  which  have  been  stirred 
up  by  desperate  and  unprincipled  emissaries.  The  best 
mode,  I  should  think,  for  giving  effect  to  associations  in 
the  county  would  be  to  have  standing  committees  in 
different  parts  who  should  consist  of  a  small  number  and 
transact  the  business  of  the  Association,  without  calling 
those  together  who  have  signed  the  Resolutions,  unless 
any  extraordinary  circumstance  should  require  the 
exertions,  or  influence  of  collected  numbers. 

I  feel  with  }•  ou  the  propriety  of  the  increase  of  Labourer's 
Wages,  and  the  importance  of  that  measure  being  kept 
distinct  from  the  political  circumstances  of  the  time.  I 
am  not  prepared  at  this  moment  to  give  a  decided  opinion 
as  to  the  mode  of  effecting  that,  but  I  will  write  more  fully 
to  you  on  this  Head  when  I  have  more  deeply  considered 


1792]  THE  LABOURER'S  HIRE  109 

it.  The  most  ordinary  or  obviously  legal  means  are 
certainly  the  most  desirable  :  I  believe  there  is  a  power  in 
the  Quarter  Sessions  to  regulate  the  price  of  labour.  The 
call  of  Parliament  is  so  far  fortunate  that  it  will  probabl}^ 
collect  a  considerable  body  of  country  gentlemen  from 
different  parts,  amongst  whom  the  best  expedients  may 
be  determined  upon.  The  alteration  in  the  price  of 
Labour  must  ultimately  fall  on  the  Landowners,  and 
when  they  are  convinced  of  the  propriety  and  necessity 
of  it,  the  concurrence  of  the  Farmers,  may,  I  should 
suppose,  be  easily  contrived.  These  are,  however,  but 
the  sudden  thoughts  raised  by  what  I  have  read  in  your 
Letter  and  which  I  should  wish  to  discuss  further  with 
you. 

There  is  not  the  least  foundation  for  the  Report  of 
Lord  Chatham's^  going  to  Ireland.  Lord  Temple  and 
Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  ^  have  been  dismissed  from  the 
service  for  the  part  they  have  taken  in  the  propagation  of 
Republican  doctrines.  I  hope  you  wiU  not  suffer  dis- 
couraging ideas  to  intrude  themselves  upon  you.  I  should 
be  afraid  the  little  justice  you  do  yourself  would  induce 
you  to  suspect  me  of  flattery,  if  I  were  to  say  how  much  I 
think  the  strength  and  success  of  our  cause  depends  upon 
your  appearance  and  exertions  in  it,  and  how  very  much 
chearfulness  will  be  given  to  any  struggle  I  may  endeavour 
to  make,  by  my  doing  it  hand  in  hand  with  you.^ 

1  John  Pitt,  second  Earl  of  Chatham  (1756-1835),  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  1788-1794. 

2  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  (i  763-1 798)  was  cashiered  from  the  Army 
for  joining  in  Sir  Robert  Smith's  toast  to  the  abohtion  of  all  hereditary 
titles,  given  at  an  EngHsh  dinner-party  at  Paris  in  October  1793. 

3  Add.  MSS.  37873  f.  183. 


CHAPTER  III 
1793 

A  coalition  suggested  between  Pitt  and  the  Duke  of  Portland's 
party  :  Mudge's  chronometer  :  A  Frenchman  on  the  Revolution 
and  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  United  States  :  Alexander 
Hamilton  :  General  Knox  :  Randolph  :  Jefferson  :  Windham's 
increasing  importance  :  Pitt  confers  with  him  :  Windham  on 
the  French  Revolution  :  On  the  Proclamation  for  the  sup- 
pression of  seditious  meetings:  On  the  divergence  of  views 
between  Fox  and  Portland  :  Windham  for  a  while  acts  as  head 
of  the  party  :  Fox  and  the  "  Friends  of  the  People  "  : 
Windham  comments  upon  his  lack  of  ambition  :  He  is  present 
at  the  siege  of  Valenciennes  :  The  surrender  of  that  town  : 
Ministerial  negotiations  :  Windham  anxious  not  to  take  office  : 
The  siege  of  Dunkirk  :  Toulon  :  Pitt  regrets  that  Windham 
is  disinchned  to  take  office  :  The  execution  of  Marie  Antoinette  : 
The  siege  of  Mauberge  :  Burke  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  : 
Windham  supports  the  continuance  of  the  war  :  La  Vendee  : 
A  conference  between  Pitt  and  Lord  Spencer  :  Windham  and 
his  architect,  James  Wyatt  :  Burke  and  Spencer  on  the 
situation  :  Spencer  and  Windham  in  favour  of  continuing  the 
war  :  Lord  Malmesbury's  mission  to  the  King  of  Prussia  : 
The  French  Princes  :  Toulon  regained  by  the  French. 

ON  the  eve  of  the  declaration  of  war  against 
France,  Thomas  Grenville  wrote  to  Windham 
regarding  the  invitation  that  he,  in  common 
with  other  prominent  poHticians,  had  received 
to  meet  at  Windham's  house  to  confer  as  to  the  advisa- 
bility of  forming  a  coalition  between  Pitt  and  the 
Duke  of  Portland. 

Thomas  Grenville  io  William  Windham 

February  10,  1793 

I    received   your   letter   to-day   at   five   o'clock,   and 

being    obliged    to    go    out    to    dinner    have    not    till 

no 


y.  Hofpner.  R.A .,  ptnxt. 


1793]         PROPOSALS  FOR  A  COALITION  iii 

now  been  able  to  send  you  any  answer  ;  being 
desirous  of  seeing  the  Duke  of  Portland  upon  the 
subject,  I  learn  from  him  that  you  had  this  morning 
apprised  him  of  its  being  the  wish  of  many  persons, 
who  concurred  with  him  in  the  necessity  of  supporting 
the  war  in  which  we  are  engaged,  to  meet  and  communi- 
cate together  this  evening  at  your  house  ;  I  learn  also 
from  him  that  he  expressed  no  sort  of  objection  to  any 
concert  of  his  parliamentary  friends  for  that  purpose. 
I  have,  however,  read  in  your  letter  with  a  good  deal  of 
concern  that,  a  proposition  was  to  be  made  for  a  deter- 
mination to  set  aside  for  the  present  all  views  of  opposi- 
tion. It  is  true  that  a  proposition  of  this  nature  was  dis- 
cussed at  the  beginning  of  this  session,  but  you  will  I 
am  sure  recollect  that  the  Duke  of  Portland,  Lord  Fitz- 
william,^  many  other  persons,  and  myself  amongst  them, 
expressed  the  most  distinct  dissent  from  that  proposition, 
and  that  it  seemed  to  be  the  wish  of  all  those  persons  to 
pledge  themselves  to  no  support  of  government  or  sus- 
pension of  opposition,  except  in  those  particular  instances 
which  were  effected  by  and  comprehended  in  the  very 
peculiar  dangers  of  the  times.  Under  these  circumstances, 
of  which  Mr.  Fox  was  likewise  informed  and  upon  which 
communication  was  constantly  had  with  him,  tho'  he 
differed  in  opinion  the  general  course  of  conduct  seemed 
understood  to  be,  that  those  who  saw  internal  dangers 
from  republican  principles,  and  dangers  arising  from  the 
growing  power  of  France,  would  resist  them  by  support- 
ing those  measures  of  the  government  which  were  meant 
to  counteract  the  dangers  at  home,  and  such  support; 
too,  of  war  with  France  as  might  make  it  most  effectual 
if  war  proved  to  be  necessary. 

For  my  own  part  I  own  I  much  wish  to  see  again  at 
Burlington  House  ^  those  meetings  which  it  has  always 

*  William  Wentworth  Fitzwilliam,  fourth  Earl  Fitzvvilliam   (1748- 

1833)- 

*  The  property  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  from  1753  until  181 5, 


112  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

given  me  so  much  pleasure  to  attend  there,  and  which 
I  am  persuaded  have  been  of  the  greatest  pubhck  benefit  ; 
least  of  all  can  I  subscribe  to  any  notion  of  devising  any 
project  for  not  engaging  the  Duke  of  Portland  to  take 
his  old  place  at  the  head  of  those  who  act  upon  his 
sentiments,  because  he  appears  to  me  to  have  kept  that 
place  with  honour  to  himself,  and  I  am  persuaded  too  with 
the  most  perfect  satisfaction  to  all  his  friends.-^ 

W.  Banks  to  William  Windham 

Soho  Square :    March  17,  1793 

You  need  not  have  informed  me  that  you  respect  the 
rights  of  adversaries,  because  I  well  know  that  you 
respect  all  rights  except  perhaps  the  rights  of  those  whose 
watches  have  gone  better  than  Mudge's  ever  did  go  and 
who  in  that  case  certainly  have  a  right  to  the  Public 
reward  you  seem  determined  to  confer  on  your  Devonshire 
Friend. - 

As  an  adversary  I  claim  however  one  right,  which  is 
that  if  the  Committee  to-morrow  should  find  themselves 
satisfied  with  the  truth  of  Mr.  Mudge's  allegations  and 
make  up  their  Consciences  to  report  them  to  the  House  of 
Commons  as  proved  according  to  the  Standing  orders,  a 
reasonable  time  may  be  allowed  before  that  Report  be 
carried  up,  in  order  that  these  who  think  that  public 
money  cannot  with  justice  be  given  to  the  second-best 
while  the  most  deserving  is  left  unrewarded,  may  have  an 
opportunity  of  explaining  the  comparative  pretensions 
of  these  to  whom  the  public  are  indebted  for  the  improve- 
ment of  time-keepers. 

This  right  of  an  adversary  I  hold  that  you  cannot  in 

1  Add.  MSS.  37849  f.  204. 

2  Thomas  Mudge  (1717-1794)  invented  a  chronometer,  for  which  he 
claimed  a  reward  from  the  Board  of  Longitude,  which  was  not  granted. 
Subsequently  a  Committee  was  appointed  on  which  sat  Pitt,  Windham, 
and  others,  to  consider  the  matter.  Convinced  of  the  value  of  the 
timekeeper,  they  recommended  a  grant  of  ;^2  500,  a  decision  that  the 
House  of  Commons  confirmed. 


17931  MUDGE'S  CHRONOMETERS  113 

justice  deiw,  for,  as  your  mode  of  Proceeding  allows 
the  smallest  possible  number  of  Periods  for  explana- 
tions to  take  place  that  the  Constitution  of  Parliament 
recognises,  each  period  ought  to  have  a  greater  interval 
than  is  necessary  in  the  Conduct  of  an  act  of  Parliament 
to  allow  to  the  Corresponding  one.^ 

W.  Banks  to  William  Windham 

Soho  Square  :    March  18,  1793 

Being  of  Opinion  that  neither  you  nor  the  rest  of 
Mudge's  Friends  are  aware  of  the  Pretentions  other  artists 
have,  to  be  rewarded  in  Preference  to  him,  I  have  been 
induced  to  draw  up  the  inclosed  paper  which  I  mean  to 
circulate  to  the  members  on  the  day  the  report  is  to  be 
received.  I  think  it  candid  to  communicate  it  to  you 
forthwith,  but  I  do  not  mean  to  bring  it  out  to-morrow, 
because  I  understand  it  is  not  customary  to  make  a 
serious  opposition  in  the  Commons  for  proving  allegations. 

I  beg  to  have  it  understood  that  I  do  not  mean  to  Com- 
bat Mr.  Mudge's  pretentions  on  any  other  Ground  than 
the  Defence  of  the  Decision  of  the  Board  of  Longitude  and 
the  pretentions  of  Mr.  Arnold  and  such  others,  if  such 
there  are,  whose  time-keepers  are  better  than  Mr.  Mudge's, 
If  the  House  chose  to  extend  their  Bounty  to  Reward  him, 
I  am  sure  that  I  shall  lay  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  their 
generosity  Provided  they  give  due  attention  to  the  claims 
of  those  who  have  excelled  him.^ 

William  Windham  to  John  Coxe  Hippisley  {at  Rome) 

London  :  March  28,  1793 
I  have  already  much  to  answer  for  in  having  delayed 
so  long  to  write  ;  at  a  time  when  you  must  be  so  im- 
patient for  letters,  and  when  you  have  given  yourself 
such  a  claim  to  them  from  me,  by  the  numerous  ones  which 
I  have  received.  It  is  the  sense  of  my  obligations  in 
1  Add.  MSS.  37854  f.  45.  2  Md..  MSS.  37854  f.  47. 

I  H 


114  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

that  respect,  and  the  ideas  conceived  of  what  I  ought  to 
do  in  return,  that  has,  till  now,  repressed  my  endeavours, 
and  threatens,  without  care,  to  throw  me  into  as  bad  a 
state,  as  during  the  time  of  your  absence  in  India.^ 

An  experience  of  that  danger  makes  me  resolve  to 
break  my  chains  by  times.  I  have  accordingly  seized 
my  pen  this  morning,  determined  to  write  a  page  before  I 
pull  off  my  night-cap  ;  and  not  to  go  out  of  the  house, 
till  I  have  got  upon  paper  such  a  quantity,  as  I  may 
venture  to  send  off  by  next  post,  should  I  be  unable  even 
to  make  any  additions  to  it.  Where  shall  I  begin  ? 
And  what  order  shall  I  follow  ?  What  shall  I  consider  as 
most  important  ?  And  where  shall  I  consider  you  as 
most  uninformed,  and  most  desirous  therefore  of  in- 
formation from  me  ?  The  points  probably  most  neces- 
sary, will  be  those,  that  you  can  least  learn  from  public 
accounts  ;  and  such  will  be  the  history  of  our  domestic 
and  party  politics,  particularly  as  affecting  that  class  of 
men  about  whom  you  are  most  interested. 

You  know,  what  the  state  of  my  mind  was  respecting 
the  situation  of  Europe,  and  the  progress  to  be  appre- 
hended of  those  changes  which  were  gaining  daily  new 
strength,  and  which  were  never  likely  to  stop  of  them- 
selves, till  they  effected  the  dissolution  of  all  the  sub- 
sisting governments.  The  reasons  for  these  fears  went  on 
increasing,  in  respect  both  of  the  progress  of  the  French 
Arms,  and  of  the  corresponding  opinions  in  this  country, 
till  some  time,  as  I  recollect,  after  your  departure  they 
seemed  then  to  be  brought  to  a  sort  of  crisis,  at  which  some 
immediate  explosion  was  to  be  apprehended.  I  am  not 
sure  whether  this  was  just  before,  or  just  after  your 
departure,  but  it  was  towards  the  end  of  November. 

You  must  consider  this  as  a  sort  of  fixed  point,  with 
references  to  which  the  history  of  these  times  is  to  be 
graduated.     The  despondency  of  those  who  have  been 

*  Hippislev  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Co.  in  India» 
1786-9. 


17931  THE  MINISTERIAL  POSITION  115 

distinguished  since,  as  the  sect  of  Alarmists  ^  was  then  at 
its  lowest  ebb.     Among  those  who  happened  to  be  at 
that  time  in  London,  I  was  among  the  most  eager  for 
calling   together    whatever    force    of   counsel    could    be 
collected,  in  order  to  consider  what  should  be  done.     The 
general  opinion  was,  that  an  intimation  should  be  given 
to  the  Ministry,  serving  in  our  view  as  a  menace,  and  in 
another  as  an  encouragement,  that  those,  by  whom  they 
had  been  supported  at  the  time  of  the  Proclamation,^  would 
not  fail  them  in  any  measures,  which  they  might  think 
it  necessary  to  take  in  the  present  circumstances  ;    and 
that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  persons  comprehended  under 
that  description,  measures,  vigorous  and  decisive,  both 
internal   and   external,    ought   to   be   taken.     This   was 
accordingly  done  ;    and  though  the  intimation  so  con- 
veyed was  not  so  explicit  nor  so  strong,  as  I  could  have 
wished  ;   it  is  not  impossible,  that  on  that  little  circum- 
stance much  of  the  subsequent  conduct  of  government, 
much  in  consequence  of  that  of  the  dispositions  and  plans 
of  foreign  powers  ;  and  much,  therefore,  in  the  end  of  the 
fate  of  Europe,  may  have  turned.     I  have  always  been 
a  great  tracer  of  the  effect   of  little  things ;    and  the 
opinion,  that  this  step  seemingly  so  inconsiderable  :  may 
have  led  to  consequences,  thus  important,  is  a  reflexion 
of  great  comfort  and  satisfaction  to  me,  who  had  some 
share  in  it,  and  who  rejoice  so  much  in  those  consequences. 
The  sentiments  of  Fox,  in  the  meanwhile,  remained  in 
a  great  measure  unknown.     He  had  been  absent  from 
Town  during  the  greater  part  of  the  Summer,  and  little 
more  was  known  of  his  sentiments,  than  what   I  had 
collected  in  a  short  conversation  in  my  way  from  Norfolk 
to  London,  previous  to  the  retreat  of  the  combined  Army, 
and  to  those  events,  which  made  so  large  a  part  of  the 
present    crisis.     My    own    expectations    were   not    very 

1  Burke  and  others  opposed  to  the  French  Revolution  were  called 
"  Alarmists." 

2  The  Proclamation  against  Seditious  Meetings,  &c. 


ii6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

sanguine  ;  and  the  result  of  three  or  four  conversations, 
to  which  he  seemed  to  be  dragged  rather  unwillingly, 
gave  me  an  early  impression,  that  our  difference  was  not 
of  a  temporary  or  superficial  sort,  but  such  as  was 
likely  to  lead  us,  without  some  unexpected  turn  of  things, 
wider  and  wider  from  each  other.  It  was  not  a  difference 
capable  of  being  reduced  to  specific  points,  and  of  being 
confined,  therefore,  within  precise  limits,  but  a  general 
difference  of  feeling  that  pervaded  all  our  sentiments  on 
the  present  state  of  the  world.  This  opinion,  admitted 
as  you  may  suppose  with  great  reluctance,  and  at  first 
with  considerable  hesitation,  has  alas  !  been  growing 
stronger,  as  the  scene  has  opened  ;  till  now  that  we  have 
passed  the  question  of  War,  without  being  able  to  find  in 
that  an  occasion  of  union,  there  is  nothing,  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach,  that  affords  a  prospect  of  our  coming 
together.  The  situation  in  which  we  stand,  and  the 
persons  comprized  in  one  or  other  description,  you  know 
probably  partly  from  the  accounts  of  the  debates,  and 
partly  from  private  letters. 

It  may  be  more  necessary  to  say  something  of  the 
situation  and  sentiments  of  the  Duke  of  Portland.  For 
his  sentiments  have  been  on  all  occasions,  except  on  the 
Bill  now  depending  to  prevent  treasonable  correspondence 
&c.  the  same  as  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot's  and  mine,  who  have 
never  differed  yet  in  any  instance.  His  opinion  and 
feelings  on  the  affairs  of  France,  his  ideas  on  the  state  of 
this  Country  :  his  wishes  for  war,  and  his  intentions  of 
supporting  the  Ministry,  till  he  was  talked  out  of  them  by 
other  counsellors,  were  aU  the  same  as  ours  ;  But  his 
situation  is  such  as  no  nicety  of  conduct  can  make  con- 
sistent with  itself,  and  as  has  been  the  parent  of  all  his 
difficulties,  and  all  his  perplexities,  and  of  such  loss  of 
personal  consequence  as  it  will  be  difficult  ever  to  repair. 
He  has  conceived  that  his  present  difference  with  Fox 
could  be  treated  as  a  difference  on  a  particular  point, 
and  be  reconciled  with  a  continuance  of  party  connection. 


1793]  WITHOUT  A  LEADER  117 

The  consequence  of  which  is  that  he  is  acting  in  party 
with  a  man  with  whom  he  never  agrees,  and  is  joining 
with  him  to  overturn  the  power  of  those  by  whom  his  own 
system  is  supported.  One  of  the  effects  of  this  situation, 
illustrating  the  original  falseness  of  the  conception,  is 
that  he  can  take  no  step  to  aid  and  co-operate  with  those 
with  whom  he  concurs  in  opinion. 

To  obviate  so  strange  a  consequence  was  the  object 
of  that  conference,  which  produced  the  declaration  from 
Sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  about  which  you  have  heard  probably 
a  good  deal,  and  which  has  drawn  upon  him  a  great  deal 
of  enmity  from  that  side.  It  was  proposed  to  the  Duke 
to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  those,  whose  sentiments 
he  agreed  with  ;  and  to  allow  them  stiU  to  consider 
themselves  as  acting  under  their  original  chief.  To  this 
it  was  thought  at  first,  that  we  had  an  explicit  consent : 
but  all  was  afterwards  embroiled,  and  confused,  till,  in 
point  of  fact,  we  all  find  ourselves  now  acting  without  a 
leader,  and  with  no  other  concert,  than  that  which  we 
have  been  able  to  make  out  among  ourselves. 

The  only  meetings,  therefore  of  the  party  that  have 
taken  place  on  our  side,  have  been  at  my  house.  Much 
against  my  wiU  I  have  been  obliged  to  act  as  a  sort  of  head 
of  a  party,  much  in  the  same  way  as  some  Colonel  or 
Serjeant  may  now  be  doing  with  the  remains  of  Du- 
mouriez's  Army.^  This,  however,  can  last  only  for  a  short 
time.  It  may  serve  to  keep  us  together  for  a  while  ; 
but  if  the  Duke  cannot  be  prevailed  upon  to  return  to  his 
station,  of  which  I  see  at  present  no  prospect,  and  hardly, 
indeed,  the  opportunity,  we  must  dwindle  away  and  be 
dispersed  in  various  channels  till  the  very  name  and  idea 
of  the  party  will  be  lost.  The  credit  and  consequence  that 
has  been  lost  by  this  conduct,  first  of  Fox,  and  then  of 
the  Duke,  is  dreadful  to  think  of.     Had  Fox  determined 

1  Dumouriez  had  been  defeated  at  Neerwinden,  March  i8,  by  the 
Austrians  under  Saxe-Coburg,  and  driven  out  of  Belgium.  Dumouriez 
deserted  to  the  AlUes,  April  4. 


118  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

to  have  taken  part  with  us  at  the  close  6f  last  year,  had  he 
disclaimed  the  Friends  of  the  People,  and  sided  with 
those,  who  had  certainly  the  best  claim  to  be  considered 
as  his  friends,  there  is  hardly  a  doubt  that  he  might,  at 
this  time,  have  been  a  Minister.  Had  he  even  taken  part 
with  us  at  the  beginning  of  this  Session,  there  is  little 
doubt,  though  more  than  before,  that  his  authority  in  the 
Country,  might  have  been  equally  or  nearly  as  great.  As 
it  is  he  has  put  himself  in  a  situation,  in  which,  as  far  as 
can  be  foreseen,  nothing  less  than  a  Revolution  can  ever 
make  him  Minister. 

The  Duke  of  Portland  upon  a  smaller  scale  has  judged 
equally  wrong,  and  with  consequences  equally  injurious. 
By  this  attempt  of  continuing  to  act  with  Fox,  while 
they  differed  on  questions  such  as  those  now  depending, 
he  has  disappointed  the  expectations  of  his  friends,  and 
of  the  publick,  and  lost  much  of  that  reputation  for  firm- 
ness and  decision,  which  is  so  necessary  to  the  head  of  a 
party,  and  may  be  so  much  wanted  hereafter  for  the 
purpose  of  recovering  Fox.  The  opinion  that  the  Duke 
had  a  will  and  a  judgement  of  his  own,  and  could  firmly 
act  up  to  that  judgement,  would  be  the  best  cure  for  that 
distrust,  which  otherwise  may  for  ever  exclude  Fox 
from  Office.  The  situation  of  the  Duke  was,  I  confess, 
difficult.  To  have  taken  the  course,  which  I  recommended, 
would  undoubtedly  have  changed  what  was  one  party 
into  two,  with  each  its  head  and  members  and  separate 
functions  ;  acting  without  enmity  to  each  other,  but 
moving  in  different  directions,  and  forming  each  its  own 
system.  But  the  course  which  is  now  taken  leaves  us 
no  party  at  all.  The  only  body  that  lives  and  acts  is  an 
heterogeneous  mass,  formed  hardly  in  any  degree  of  the 
materials  of  the  Duke  of  Portland's  friends,  (though  it 
has  derived  from  them  its  life  and  energy)  and  pursuing 
habits  and  instincts  altogether  its  own.  It  is  a  little 
gilded  and  venomous  insect,  with  great  force  of  wing, 
which  has  sprung  from  the  carcase  of  the  old  party,  which 


1793]  THE  PARTY  MELTING  AWAY  119 

it  leaves  to  moulder  and  grow  putrid  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Publick.  If  I  were  a  Man  of  ambition  and  activity  and 
talents  for  such  a  situation,  now  is  the  time  when  I  might 
become  a  great  leader,  all  the  world  being  ready  to  hail 
the  course  I  have  taken,  and  which  I  laboured,  with  most 
earnest  endeavours,  to  make  the  course  also  of  the  Duke 
of  Portland.  I  have  no  such  disposition,  did  I  possess 
even  the  powers,  so  that  the  party  seems  to  be  melting 
away,  with  no  one  growing  up  to  replace  it,  but  such 
as  must  derive  all  its  strength  and  nutriment  from  the 
misfortunes  and  mischief  of  the  Country. 

This  is  the  best  picture  which  I  can  give  you  of  the 
state  of  internal  politics  as  confined  to  public  men.  The 
evils  of  this  I  feel  less  acutely,  from  the  consideration  of 
the  promising  appearance  which  things  seem  to  assume 
upon  the  Continent,  where  the  progress  of  the  mischief  is 
at  least  stopt,  with  as  good  hopes  of  further  reduction  of 
it,  as  can  be  entertained  in  a  business  of  such  extent  and 
complexity. 

The  representations  which  you  made  of  the  state  of 
opinions  in  the  Southern  parts  of  France,  combined  with 
other  accounts  confirming  the  same  ideas,  makes  a  very 
considerable  part  of  the  hopes,  which  I  allow  myself  to 
indulge.  You  will  have  heard  all  the  accounts,  which 
we  have  as  yet  got  of  the  complete  success  of  the  Austrian 
Arms  in  Brabant,  such  as  give  already  full  assurance  for 
the  security  of  Holland,  and  leave  little,  or  no  doubt,  of 
the  entire  evacuation  of  Flanders.  We  know  as  yet 
for  certain  (March  27th)  only  of  the  Victory  of  the  i8th. 
these  are  Accounts  seemingly  pretty  authentick  of  a 
continuence  of  the  same  successes,  amounting  to  nearly 
an  entire  dispersion  of  the  whole  of  the  French  Army. 

What  we  want  now  is  a  Naval  force  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, such  as  might  give  heart  and  protection  to  the 
sentiments  which  you  describe  as  existing  in  that  part  of 
France.  Similar  aid  is  wanting  towards  Brittany  ;  where, 
as  you  will  see  by  the  French  papers,  a  very  general 


120  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

dissatisfaction  prevails.  In  both  these  cases,  indeed,  there 
must  be  a  land  force  to  co-operate  with  that  by  sea  ;  and 
such  I  conclude  in  the  course  of  the  Summer  must  be 
found.  At  all  events  an  English  Fleet  should  be  or 
rather  should  have  been,  in  the  Mediterranean,  to  give 
that  succour  and  protection,  which  I  conceive  aU  the 
Countries  upon  those  Shores  are  looking  for  at  our  hands, 
and  which  it  would  be  a  proud  distinction  in  us  to  grant. 
I  long  to  think  that  Rome,  our  common  mother,  should 
owe  her  safety,  if  danger  must  approach  her,  to  the 
protecting  justice  of  Great  Britain. 

Amidst  so  much  said  of  our  political  differences,  it 
may  be  necessary  to  state  in  what  degree  they  affect 
private  and  individual  intercourse.  You  may  imagine, 
that  those  who  lived  together  chiefly  as  politicians,  do  not 
continue  much  to  do  so,  when  their  politics  disagree.  The 
secession  likewise  from  the  Whig  Club,  of  which  you  may 
have  seen  an  account  in  the  papers,  has  been  a  subject 
of  greater  complaint  than  any  difference  in  voting  or 
speaking.  But  none  of  these  have  led,  in  my  case,  to 
any  change  of  manner  in  private,  nor  in  my  own  mind 
to  any  change  of  private  regard.  I  retain  all  my  former 
opinions  and  kindness  for  Fox,  though  I  see,  with  regret, 
that  his  sentiments  and  wishes  on  the  changes  now  going 
on  in  the  World,  are  more  remote  from  mine,  than  I  had 
formerty  supposed.  The  list  of  the  persons  who  side 
with  him  on  these  points  you  know  pretty  well  by  the  list 
of  the  division.  Those,  who  do  not  appear  there,  may 
be  presumed,  in  general,  to  be  on  the  other  side.^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37848  f   S9. 


1793]       A  FRENCH  ROYALIST'S  LETTER  121 

An  LTnknown  Correspondent  ^  to  William  Windham 

The  I  of  June  (1793) 

Philadelphia  at  M.  Morris, 

Member  of  the  Senate,  Market  Street 

The  affectionate  attention  you  honoured  me  with 
during  the  time  I  spent  in  England  induced  me  to  think 
that  you  would  hear  with  satisfaction  of  my  happy  arrival 
in  the  Unitate  States.  I  had  good  companions  on  board, 
among  which  I  will  mention  the  respectable  familly  of 
M.  Duche,  M.  Talon,  a  member  of  the  first  constitutional 
assembly,  under  an  accusation  of  the  convention,  M. 
Bonnet,  a  French  clergyman  banished,  and  M.  Devillaine, 
a  French  officer  who  made  the  last  campaign  with  the 
Princes.  The  number  of  our  fellow  passengers  was  eighty 
and  against  the  common  rule  of  sea  travellers  we  lived  on 
board  ship  and  parted  on  the  most  friendly  terms. 

We  found  the  sea  so  much  covered  with  your  vessels 
that  I  thought  its  Empire  belonged  entirely  to  Great 
Britain.  Your  men-of-war  seemed  to  me  very  well 
disposed  to  protect  your  Trade,  and  stationed  with  a 
peculiar  Knowledge  of  the  French  coast.  Some  of  them 
cam.e  near  our  vessel  but  your  sea  officers,  able  to  dis- 
tinguish the  form  of  every  ship,  never  stoped  or  pre- 
vented us  from  continuing  our  course.  We  desired  our 
Captain  to  shew  his  colours  to  every  ship  we  met  with  ; 
by  this  precaution  we  had  an  opportunity  of  speaking 
with  several  of  your  Merchantmen  and  acquainting  them 
that  hostilities  had  taken  place  between  France  and 
England,  and  of  telling  the  Captains  of  those  vessels  the 
lattitude  and  longitude  where  they  would  receive  the 
protection  of  your  men-of-war. 

1  This  letter  is  taken  from  a  copy,  the  original  not  being  among  the 
"  Windham  Papers."  In  the  copy  the  signature  is  omitted,  but  the 
presumption  is  that  the  letter  was  written  by  a  French  Royalist,  and 
one  of  no  little  importance,  since,  as  will  be  seen,  he  was  on  terms  with 
the  most  important  men  in  the  United  States. 


122  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

I  landed  at  Philadelphia  the  third  of  May  and  went 
immediately  to  M.  Washington.  He  inquired  with 
peculiar  attention  concerning  the  Officers  who  served  in 
America  during  the  War  and  more  especially  concerning 
M.  de  Lafayette.  I  looked  upon  this  first  enterview 
as  a  good  presage  of  M.  Washington's  pubUc  sentiments 
and  in  private  conversation  I  was  confirmed  in  my 
opinion  that  the  President  of  Congress  disliked  the 
System  of  the  New  Republicains  as  much  as  might  be 
expected  from  a  man  sensible  of  the  true  principles  of  a 
good  government  and  anxious  for  the  happiness  of 
mankind. 

To  give  you  a  just  idea  of  the  opinion  of  the  people 
of  the  Unitate  States,  I  must  have  a  retrospect  to  the 
beginning  of  the  French  revolution.  When  the  itats 
generaux  was  called,  the  Americains  expected  the  im- 
provement of  our  government.  The  revolution  of  July 
1789  received  the  general  aprobation  of  the  people. 
Every  one  thought  it  was  the  struggle  of  despotism  in 
the  Aristocraty  of  the  clergy  and  nobility  against  the 
principles  of  liberty.  However,  some  men  of  ability 
escaped  this  common  enthousiasm  and  thought  that  the 
basis  upon  which  the  legislature  of  France  proposed  to 
elevate  the  constitution  was  not  that  which  was  proper  to 
suport  the  foundation  of  a  large  empire.  Had  not  the 
unhappy  Lewis  the  16*"^  adopted  the  bad  proposition 
to  go  to  Varennes,  leaving  before  the  National  assembly 
the  fatal  writing  which  led  to  doubt  of  his  faith,  the 
sentiment  I  mentioned  had  received  the  greatest  credit 
and  every  one  had  aprouved  of  the  refusal  of  the  King  to 
take  care  of  a  helm  ready  to  break  in  his  hands.  The 
French  constitution  as  it  was  formerly  accepted,  leaving 
some  means  of  amelioration,  obtained  at  last  the  consent 
of  the  Americain's  people. 

The  conduct  of  the  first  legislative  assembly  changed 
sudently  this  favourable  disposition.  People  found  in 
the  discussion  of  October,  1791,  all  the  character  of  a 


1793]  A  DIVIDED  AMERICA  123 

faction  which  wanted  to  give  humiliation  to  the  throne 
and  to  ruin  the  Kingdom.  The  declaration  of  war  against 
the  house  of  Austria  appeared  useless,  impolitic,  and 
rather  disposed  to  destroy  the  liberty  of  the  people  than 
to  strengthen  it.  In  short,  the  revolution  of  the  tenth 
of  August  divided  America  into  two  parts  well  dis- 
tinguished and  almost  fixed  by  the  different  states. 
Those  which  are  called  the  eastern,  and  extend  from  the 
boundaries  of  Canada  to  the  Southern  part  of  Maryland, 
looked  upon  the  events  of  that  time  as  prepared  by  the 
ambitious  pretentions  of  some  individuals,  conducted 
against  the  interest  of  the  people  and  compleated  by  all 
species  of  crimes.  The  Western  States,  which  are  com- 
prehended between  the  Southern  part  of  Maryland  to 
Georgia,  have  approved  openly  the  conspiracy  against 
the  King  and  the  Monarchy.  And  it  is  very  remarkable 
that  the  states  which  admit  slavery  were  all  more  in 
favour  of  equaUty  and  hcentiousness. 

The  manifesto  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,^  his  attack 
on  France  with  Prussians,  and  particularly  with  Hessians, 
to  give  laws  to  the  French  nation  again  united  the 
wishes  of  the  people  in  favour  of  the  French  arms,  and  on 
that  account  the  massacres  of  the  second  and  third  of 
September  have  not  provoked  the  indignation  that  one 
might  expect  from  a  people  gentle,  sensible,  humaine  and 
compassionate  as  are  the  Americains.  But  when,  after 
the  retreat  of  the  combined  armies,  the  system  of  a 
general  republic  became  the  politics  of  the  national  con- 
vention, when  it  decreed  that  it  would  no  more  admit  of 
the  ties  of  rehgion,  of  Kings,  of  tribunals,  proprietory 
probity,  fidelity  in  the  most  sacred  engagements,  that 
it  had  the  intention  to  oppose  the  poors  to  the  riches, 
crimes  to  virtues  and  to  carry  its  infernal  doctrine  into 
every  country,  a  sentiment  of  indignation  took  place  and 
was  manifested  particularly  in  the  Eastern  States.     They 

*  Frederick  William,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  took  an  active  part  in 
the  war  against  France.  He  fell  at  Quatre  Bras,  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 


124  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

regretted  the  rejoicing  made  in  favour  of  such  victories 
as  ought  to  put  the  present  age  into  mourning  and  leave 
indeHble  impression  on  the  future.  The  murder  of  the 
King  augmented  those  sentiments  and  gave  new  ennemis 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  French  repubhc.  A  general  mourning 
would  have  been  worn  in  the  union  but  the  public  spirit, 
badly  directed  by  the  newspapers,  prevented  America 
from  paying  to  the  King  of  France  the  tribute  of  gratitude 
which  his  virtues,  his  private  and  public  endeavours  to  sup- 
port the  cause  of  America  most  undoubtedly  entitled  him. 

To  me  the  discussion  which  took  place  at  the  meeting 
of  your  British  parliament,  the  division  between  the 
Eastern  and  Western  States  of  America,  has  been  more 
remarkable  and  form  two  partis  in  the  union.  In  a 
constitution  well  established  government  gives  the 
impulse  to  every  one,  but  in  the  infancy  of  a  constitution 
men  of  various  character  have  the  greatest  influence  in 
the  governement.  I  must  then  make  you  acquainted 
with  the  leaders  of  this  country. 

The  representatives  of  the  people  receive  the  impres- 
sion from  those  which  give  them  qualification  and  carry 
it  to  Congress,  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  administration. 
Both  houses,  that  is,  the  Senate  and  Congress,  have  a 
certain  majority  at  present  in  favour  of  a  well-regulated 
governement.  It  is  more  numerous  in  the  Senate,  it  is 
a  strong  body  which  oppose  every  improper  means  in 
the  present  crisis  to  alter  the  neutrality.  The  executive 
power  is  shared  between  the  two  partis  which  divide 
the  Unitate  States.  At  the  head  of  the  first  in  favour 
of  an  exact  neutrality  is  Hamilton,  minister  of  finances,  ^ 
general  Knox,  war  minister,^  Randolph,  attorney  general  f 

^  Alexander  Hamilton  (1757-1804),  American  soldier  and  statesman, 
took  an  active  part  in  the  War  of  Independence,  and,  after  the  death 
of  Washington  in  1799,  became  Commander-in-chief  of  the  United 
States  army.  From  1789  for  five  years  he  held  the  important  office 
of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

2  General  Henry  Knox  (1750-1806),  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  War  of  Independence. 

3  Edmund  Jennings  Randolph  (1753-18 13). 


1793]      THE  UNITED  STATES  MINISTERS         125 

Jefferson,  minister  of  foreign  affairs/  is  the  leader  of  the 
second  party  which  wishes  a  more  intimate  connection 
with  the  french  repubUc.  Hamilton  is  a  man  of  a  great 
understanding,  fine  talents,  a  communicative  genius,  an 
untainted  probity,  an  absolute  disinterestedness.  With 
the  desire  of  reputation  he  is  so  indifferent  with  respect 
to  the  possession  of  his  office  that  he  would  leave  it 
rather  than  abandon  an  opinion  or  an  object  useful  to 
his  country.  Hamilton  has  created  a  System  of  finances 
which  everybody  admires  on  account  of  its  advantages 
and  of  its  Simplicity.  General  Knox  is  a  man  of  good 
judgment  and  intirely  influenced  by  Hamilton.  Ran- 
dolph is  a  well  informed  man  and  possesses  some  abihty. 
His  conversation  proves  a  man  attached  to  the  opinion 
that  it  is  impossible  to  govern  an  extensive  Kingdom 
without  an  executive  force  which  must  not  be  prevented, 
except  when  it  acts  against  the  constitution  of  the 
country.  In  a  conversation  I  had  with  M,  Randolph  he 
told  me  that  he  had  very  little  to  expect  of  security  and 
happiness  in  a  constitution  where  the  chief  of  the  executive 
power  was  elective  ;  that  everybody  in  America,  except 
M.  Washington,  in  several  circumstances  of  the  greatest 
importance  had  been  obliged  to  conform  his  opinion  to 
that  of  Congress,  though  directed  against  the  public 
advantage.  I  induced  M.  Randolph  to  confess  that  our 
suspensive  veto  is  a  chimera  when  it  is  not  supported  by 
the  dissolution  of  the  legislative  body,  that  without  it,  the 
use  of  the  veto  will  determine  the  civil  war,  and  the 
destruction  of  one  of  the  two  powers.  M.  Randolph's 
opinion  in  point  of  constitution  advise  me  to  rekon  him 
among  the  ministers  who  are  favourable  to  the  good 
principles,  what  is  important  because  it  offers  a  majority 
of  three  with  the  president  against  one  ;  but  M.  Randolph 

1  Thomas  Jefferson  (i 743-1 826),  drew  up  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  In  1785  he  went  as  United  States  Minister  to 
Paris,  where  he  remained  for  four  years.  Returning  home,  he 
became  Secretary  of  State  under  Washington,  and  in  1801  was 
elected  (third)  President. 


126  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

is  a  Virginian  and  in  consequence  of  it  attached  by 
interest  to  the  party  which  wishes  to  support  the  odious 
system  of  the  French  repubhc. 

Jefferson  is  the  chief  of  the  jacobin  party  ;  had  he  the 
talent  and  capacity  of  Hamilton  he  would  acknowledge 
with  him  that  there  is  no  prosperity  for  a  great  Empire 
without  a  repressive  force  directed  against  every  one  who 
wished  to  rise  above  the  law  and  that  the  support  of 
criminal  principles  cannot  promis  any  advantage  to  a 
new  country  which  can  only  florish  by  just  regard  shewn 
to  public  and  private  virtue  :  but  the  unhappiness  of 
representative  government  is  that  inferior  talent  with 
great  ambition  and  little  probity  cannot  suport  the  credit 
which  obtain  those  of  the  first  order  and  try  by  every 
mean  to  supplant  them.  As  people  don't  admire  the 
genious  of  Jefferson,  his  eloquence,  his  fine  speaches,  his 
happy  repartee  in  public  discussion,  it  is  necessary  to 
fixe  its  attention  with  the  favourable  idea  of  Jefferson's 
excessive  love  for  liberty,  of  his  immoderate  attache- 
ment  to  the  people's  interest,  of  his  ardent  zeal  in  favour 
of  democracy.  It  is  by  the  consideration  he  pays  to 
jacobin's  principles  that  he  is  called  the  democratic 
or  whig  minister.  Those  who  suport  his  doctrine  have  a 
peculiar  cathechism.  Their  principal  articles  of  faith  are 
that  the  death  of  the  King  was  a  necessary  sacrifice  to 
the  intire  liberty  of  the  people,  that  the  massacre  of  the 
second  and  third  of  September  must  be  considered 
as  the  inconveniency  which  belong  to  a  great  revolution, 
the  daily  convulsion  of  the  empire,  as  an  evil  which  cannot 
be  prevented.  As  this  party  dare  not  aprouve  publickly 
of  all  the  crimes  committed  in  France,  it  says  that  being 
obliged  to  take  the  alternative  of  the  duke  of  Brunswick 
on  the  French  nation,  it  preferes  the  second,  it  calls 
French  nation  the  union  of  legalite,  Marat  and  three 
or  four  thousand  murderers.      The  success  of  Jemappe^ 

1  At  Jemappe,  on  November  6,  1792,  was  fought  the  first  battle  in 
which  the  French,  under  Dumouriez,  defeated  the  Avistrijips, 


1793]  CITIZEN  GENET  IN  AMERICA  127 

had  made  a  great  number  of  proselytes,  but  Prince 
Cobourg  ^  and  general  Clerfait  ^  have  diminshed  the  zeal 
of  the  beUvers.  Jefferson  in  a  close  conversation  don't 
answer  the  expectation  which  his  partisans  give  of  him.  I 
suppose  him  to  be  in  an  intimate  correspondance  with 
the  party  which  govern  the  convention,  whilst  the  diplo- 
matic affairs  pass  by  the  chanel  of  governior  Morris,=^ 
who  is  intirely  opposite  to  his  sentiments. 

It  is  probably  with  the  leaders  of  the  jacobins  that  the 
success  of  citizien  Genet,*  the  representative  of  the  French 
Republic,  has  been  prepared  in  this  country.  He  has  been 
preceded  in  it  by  an  Americain  who  was  thought  influent ; 
he  had  learned  in  Paris  the  doctrine  of  the  new  republicains 
and  had  promised  to  buy  all  the  grains,  corn  and  flower 
that  France  wanted  for  this  year  ;  he  promised  to  send 
in  France  eigthy  thousand  arms  ;  he  had  also  engaged  his 
credit  to  determine  America  to  pay  at  once  the  debt 
contracted  with  France.  The  first  part  of  his  mission 
has  succeded,  the  second  is  now  suspended  and  the  third 
has  completely  miscarried.  I  have  no  doubt  that  proper 
dispositions  will  be  taken  to  carry  to  England  all  the 
guns  proposed  to  France. 

^  Frederick  Joseph,  Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg  (1737-1815),  Austrian 
Field -marshal,  commanded  the  Imperial  forces  from  1789  until  1795, 
when,  having  sustained  several  defeats,  he  resigned  his  command. 

2  Francois  Sebastien  Charles  Joseph  de  Croix,  Comte  de  Clerfajd; 
(1733-1798),  Austrian  Field-Marshal.  In  1792  he  commanded  the 
Austrian  contingent  in  the  Duke  of  Brunswick's  army.  In  the  following 
year  he  opened  the  campaign  in  the  Netherlands  with  the  victory  of 
Aldenhoven  and  the  relief  of  Maestricht,  and  he  was  largely  responsible 
for  the  defeat  of  Dumouriez  at  Neerwinden. 

3  Governor  Morris  (i 752-181 7),  appointed  by  Washington,  in 
January  1791,  to  negotiate  with  the  British  Government  regarding 
certain  unfulfilled  articles  of  the  treaty  of  peace.  Shortly  afterwards, 
until  1794,  he  served  as  United  States  Minister  to  France. 

4  Edmond  Charles  Edouard  Genet  (i 765-1 834)  went  to  America  in 
1793  to  endeavour  to  secure  for  the  French  Republic  the  assistance  of 
the  United  States.  In  this  he  was  not  successful.  Washington  decided 
to  issue  a  proclamation  of  neutrality.  Genet,  however,  continuing  his 
activities,  Washington  on  the  following  year  demanded,  and  secured, 
the  envoy's  recall.  Genet  then  resigned  his  mission,  but  remained  in 
the  United  States,  and  became  a  naturalised  citizen. 


128  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

I  think  it  useful  to  inform  you  with  respect  to  the  debt 
of  America  to  France  that  it  amounted  after  the  war  to 
eigtheen  hundered  thousand  pounds  sterhngs,  that  now 
a  million  of  it  has  been  paid  and  that  for  the  rest  of 
the  sum  America  is  indebted  to  France.  The  executive 
power  of  this  country  is  determined  not  to  draw  near 
again  the  moment  fixed  in  former  time  to  pay  the  sum 
that  is  due.  It  has  resisted  all  the  requests  which  have 
been  made  by  the  executive  power  of  France  to  change 
that  disposition,  but  the  month  of  September,  October  and 
November  next  are  the  epochs  fixed  for  paying  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds  sterlings  in  hard  money. 
This  sum  will  be  of  great  assistance  to  the  republicains, 
perhaps  employed  to  renew  the  massacres  which  took 
place  in  several  circumstances  and  to  continue  the  war. 

The  representative  of  the  French  republic  is  very 
anxious  about  it  :  his  first  step  in  this  country  has  been 
imprudent,  criminal  and  will  not  answer  his  expectation. 
You  knew  before  I  left  England  that  citizien  Genet  had 
the  command  of  a  sum  of  eighty  thousand  pounds 
sterlings  to  make  new  friends  and  four  hundred  commis- 
sions to  arm  vessels  and  send  them  as  cruizers  against 
your  trade.  It  was  certainly  calculated  by  the  executive 
power  of  France  that  M.  Genet  should  land  at  Charles- 
town  in  order  to  raise  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  the 
Western  States  in  favour  of  the  pretentions  of  the  french 
republic.  Citizien  Genet  at  his  arrival  was  very  well 
received  in  the  State  of  Carolina  ;  he  armed  a  privateer 
which  was  an  Americain  bottom  and  filled  it  with  an 
Americain  crew.  The  administration  of  the  State  refused 
its  consent  to  the  departure  of  the  privateer  but  Citizien 
Genet  made  a  peculiar  application  to  the  governor  of  the 
State  and  obtained  an  order  to  let  the  privateer  go  out 
of  the  harbour  ;  she  went  out  and  since  made  five  prizes. 
One  is  of  a  very  great  value.  The  conduct  of  the  governor 
of  Carolina  is  very  much  against  the  neutrality  which 
America  promised  your  minister  to  observe  and  directly 


1793]        WASHINGTON'S  PROCLAMATION  129 

against  the  wishes  of  its  inhabitants.  The  fitting  out  a 
privateer  is  quite  contradictory  to  the  proclamation  of 
the  President  of  Congress  which  (it  is  true)  came  out  after 
the  privateer  of  Citizien  Genet  went  to  sea.  The  pro- 
clamation is  wrote  in  the  following  terms  : 

"  Whereas  it  appears  that  a  state  of  war  exists  between 
Austria,  Prussia,  Sardinia,  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
Netherlands,  of  one  part  ;  and  France,  on  the  other,  and 
the  duty  and  interest  of  the  Unitate  States  require  that 
they  should  with  sincerity  and  good  faith  adopt  and 
pursue  a  conduct  friendly  and  impartial  towards  the 
belligerent  powers, 

"  I  have  therefore  thought  fit  by  these  presents;  to 
declare  the  disposition  of  the  Unitate  States  to  observe 
the  conduct  aforesaid  towards  those  powers  respectively, 
and  to  exhort  and  warn  the  citizen  of  the  Unitate  States 
carefully  to  avoid  all  acts  and  proceedings  whatsoever 
which  may  in  any  manner  tend  to  contravene  such 
disposition, 

"  And  I  do  hereby  also  make  known;  that  whosoever  of 
the  citizen  of  the  Unitate  States  shall  render  himself 
liable  to  punishement  and  forfeiture  under  the  law  of 
nations,  by  committing,  aiding  or  abetting  hostilities 
against  any  of  the  said  power,  or  by  carrying  to  any  of 
them  those  articles  which  are  deemed  contraband  by  the 
modern  usage  of  nation,  will  not  receive  the  protection 
of  the  Unitate  States  against  such  punishment  or  for- 
feiture ;  and  further  that  I  have  given  instructions  to 
those  officers,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  cause  prosecutions 
to  be  instituted  against  all  persons,  who  shall,  within  the 
cognizance  of  the  courts  of  the  Unitate  States,  violate  the 
law  of  nations,  in  respect  to  the  powers  at  war,  or  any  of 
them,  &c." 

Their  proclamation  is  sufficiently  expressive,  but  the 
new  republicains  don't  care  for  the  forms  which  are  fixed 
in  the  governements  established  and  pretend  to  make 
the  happiness  of  mankind  their  object.     Citizien  Genet, 

I  I 


130  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

going  on  his  travels  in  the  eastern  States;  opened  his 
system  ;    it  convinces  people  that  he  had  the  intention 
to  obtain  a  majority  in  Congress  and  by  its  assistance  to 
countrive  America  to  join  France  in  the  war  ;    in  case 
this  plan  could  not  succeed  to  make  the  executive  power 
of  America  unpopular  and  to  suport  the  party  of  the 
French    republic    in    raising    Citizien    against    Citizien, 
State  against  State.     His  atrocious  politics  have  obtained 
some  success  among  that  classe  of  people  which  enjoy 
tumult  and  troubles  in  every  country.     But  the  prudent 
and   wise   inhabitants,   irritated   by   this   machiavelous 
conduct,  have  endeavoured  to  prevent  its  consequence  : 
those  even  who  were  in  favour  of  the  French  republic 
found  it  against  the  dignity  of  America  that  a  French 
minister,    after    his    landing    without    mentioning    any 
thing  to  the  president  of  Congress  or  to  the  ministers, 
fitted  out  privateers  and  send  them  out.     The  place  the 
Citizien  Genet  chose  for  landing  augmented  the  discontent, 
and  now  it  is  certain  that  the  English  ships  which  have 
been  taken  will  be  restored,  and  that  the  character  and 
the  mission  of  Citizien  Genet  will  be  covered  with  all  the 
contempt  both  deserve.     I  had  opposed  his  success  but  my 
constant  opinion  always  was  that  it "  is  more  advantageous 
to  let  a  fool  do  for  himself  than  to  help  him." 

A  proof  of  the  general  sentiment  of  the  people  of 
America  is  the  conduct  of  the  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia 
about  the  proclamation.  An  address  of  thanks  has  been 
presented  to  M.  Washington  to  felicatate  him  upon  the 
steps  he  had  taken  to  prevent  America  from  engaging 
in  a  war  against  the  combined  powers.  This  disposition 
will  take  place  through  all  America. 

Some  individuals  without  character  have  met  few  days 
ago  in  a  tavern  and  have  presented  an  adress  to  Citizien 
Genet  at  the  instant  he  came  to  town.  This  adress 
contains  very  reprehensible  expressions  and  also  the 
answer  of  the  Citizien,  but  you  most  look  upon  it  as  dic- 
tated by  people  without  influence  and  just  as  if  the 


1793]  AMERICA'S  DEBT  TO  FRANCE  131 

people  of  the  Canon  tavern  in  London  had  presented  a 
petition  to  Citizien  ChanneHn. 

So  far  as  I  can  judge  of  the  disposition  of  this  country, 
it  will  maintain  a  neutrale  system.  The  cases  which 
perhaps  might  raise  the  discontent  of  America  are  those 
I  mentioned  to  you  during  my  stay  in  England. — 
1°.  considering  France  as  a  fortified  town  besieged,  you 
should  by  all  means  avoid  protracting  the  war,  render 
it  more  cruel,  and  upon  this  principles  seize  all  ships 
loaded  to  France  with  corn  or  flower  and  send  them  to 
British  harbours  to  sell  their  cargo  at  the  prise  market 
in  favour  of  the  owners.  2°.  take  any  French  ship 
armed  with  an  Americain  captain  and  an  Americain  crew. 
My  opinion  upon  these  two  prepositions  is  that,  suposing 
you  should  be  determined  to  act  in  this  manner,  America 
will  make  some  reclamations.  In  this  case  do  not  threaten 
or  come  to  a  war. 

Perhaps  to  prevent  France  from  receiving  any  assistance 
of  this  country,  your  minister  will  it  find  expedient  to 
buy  the  crop  of  next  year  and  to  send  it  under  an 
American  colour  to  England.  I  believe  your  country 
would  find  a  great  advantage  in  it  and  sell  the  corn  of 
America  with  an  immense  benefit  to  all  the  people  of 
Europe. 

I  think  that  with  respect  to  the  debt  of  America  to 
France  and  particularly  to  that  part  which  is  to  be  paid 
in  the  fall  of  this  year,  it  would  be  expedient  to  advise 
the  regent  of  France  to  send  an  agent  in  order  to  claim 
the  money  which  is  owed.  I  should  supose  America 
would  not  find  any  difficulty  to  suspend  the  moment  of 
paying  that  sum.  The  people's  choice  for  the  negociation 
must  be  a  man  of  character  and  of  determination.  The 
people  as  Citizien  Genet  have  comonly  the  mob  of  all 
countries  at  their  commands. 

I  believe  it  will  be  prudent  also  to  take  some  measure 
to  prevent  the  murderers  of  the  King,  those  of  the  second, 
third  of  September  and  other  days  from  being  admitted 


132  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

in  this  country.  If  you  are  victorious,  of  which  I  have 
no  doubt,  I  supose  America  will  not  refuse  to  grant  a 
favour  requested  by  all  powers  of  Europe.  If  you  suffer 
that  infernal  fire  which  has  reduced  France  to  ashes  to 
burn  in  any  part  of  the  world,  it  will  be  revived  and 
inflame  it. 

After  having  examined  America  in  its  interior  politics, 
in  its  afinity  with  France,  I  must  make  out  the  real 
situation  in  which  it  may  be  considered  relative  to  the 
European  powers. 

The  population  of  America,  white  and  black,  is  near 
four  millions  :  it  encreases  so  rapidly  that  without  the 
emigration  of  Europe  in  fourtheen  years  it  double  in  the 
eastern  States  and  in  twenty  in  the  western.  There  is 
now  a  system  of  finances  regulated  upon  the  rules  of 
England.  The  debt  of  the  Unitate  States  is  fifteen 
millions  sterllings.  Part  of  the  taxes  is  appropriated  to 
pay  the  interest  of  the  debt  and  cannot  be  disposed  to  an 
other  object.  The  taxes  are  of  two  sorts — ^upon  importa- 
tion which  gives  upon  almost  every  article  ten  for  cent, 
and  upon  distilling  liquors.  These  taxes  are  suported  by 
rich  people  and  of  so  little  consequence  that  every  body 
consents  to  pay  them.  The  expence  of  the  country  is 
nothing.  Fifteen  thousand  pounds  in  each.  State  pays 
the  salary  of  people  emploj'ed  in  the  administration. 
The  army  directed  against  the  Indiens  is  paid  upon  the 
general  taxes  and  without  any  augmentation  to  them.  The 
debt  of  the  Unitate  States  will  be  certainl3^  extinguished 
in  the  course  of  twent\''  years  and  probably  much  sooner. 
America  has  an  arsenal  of  two  hundred  field  pieces,  of 
hundred  pieces  of  Artillery  siege  all  brass,  moreover 
howesters,  mortars,  &c.,  hundred  and  twenty  stands  of 
arms.  The  principal  arsenal  is  at  Westpoint  in  a  very 
good  order.     I  intend  to  go  and  visit  it. 

The  situation  of  America  enables  it  to  oppose  every 
State  of  Europe  which  would  attack  its  liberty  :  but  it 
cannot  attack  any.     I  suported  this  opinion  against  the 


1793]  THE  INDIANS  IN  AMERICA  133 

most  obstinate  of  this  country  and  proved  to  them  that 
a  nation  in  the  situation  of  America  cannot  be  looked 
upon  as  an  offensive  power.  For  that  it  is  necessary  to 
have  an  excess  of  population  to  recruit  the  army,  a 
treasury  or  an  established  credit  to  supply  it,  a  naval 
army  to  transport  it,  and  America  wants  these  ad- 
vantages. However,  it  is  not  indifferent  to  England  that 
America  should  keep  the  most  exact  neutrality.  If  it 
would  declare  in  favour  of  France,  it  would  give  the  hope 
of  success  to  a  great  number  of  French  people  attached 
to  the  republicain  party  who  desire  to  come  to  a  good 
issue  and  perhaps  find  new  friends.  All  the  crop  of 
America  would  be  sent  to  France  and  some  of  the  ships 
loaded  with  it  would  come  in  its  harbours.  The  Americain 
privateers  would  do  great  injury  to  the  trade  of  England. 
The  war  with  France  would  certainly  continue  longer. 
During  its  continuance,  America  would  loose  the  habit  of 
trading  with  England,  raise  a  number  of  manufactures 
which  France  would  encouraged.  It  is  then,  by  the 
motives  above  mentioned,  the  interest  of  England  not 
to  quarrel  with  America,  as  it  is  the  interest  of  America 
to  keep  not  only  the  most  exact  neutrality  but  a  perfect 
harmony. 

Commissaries  have  been  sent  from  this  country  to  treat 
with  the  Indiens  in  order  to  make  peace.  People  of 
America  think  that  England  encourages  the  Indian  war. 
My  opinion  about  the  treaty  now  offered  by  the  Unitate 
States  is  that  it  will  not  take  place,  and  that,  if  they  agree 
with  the  Indiens  upon  the  present  terms,  war  will  com- 
mence again  in  less  than  two  years.  I  firmly  believe  also 
that,  if  war  continues  now,  the  Indiens  will  be  succesful 
and  that  on  account  of  the  bad  dispositions  and  foolish 
plan  of  operation  admitted  by  the  Americains.  I  should 
think  very  easy  for  this  country  not  only  to  defeat  the 
Indiens  but  to  oblige  them  to  retire  as  far  as  Missipy. 
America  never  will  have  a  long  peace  without  it. 

To  give  you  a  general  view  of  the  situation  of  America, 


134  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

I  must  now  consider  it  with  respect  to  the  ressources  it 
offers  to  speculations.  The  main  things  are  1°.  trade, 
2°.  acquisition  of  cultivated  land,  3°.  the  loan  upon  private 
individuals,  4°.  the  loan  upon  the  Unitate  States,  5°.  the 
reestablishment  of  French  colonies,  6°.  the  acquisition 
of  uncultivated  land.  1°.  The  trade  of  this  country  is 
attainded  with  difficulties  and  to  carry  it  on  with  succes 
it  is  necessary  not  only  to  have  studied  the  theory  of 
it  in  the  infancy  but  to  have  continualy  practiced  it. 
It  is  also  indispensable  to  give  a  part  of  your  confidence 
to  merchants  established  in  Europe  and  to  Americans 
houses  in  the  Unitate  States.  The  trading  people  of 
Europe  are  continualy  exposed  by  political  events  and 
those  of  this  country  by  the  enterprizing  genious  of  its 
inhabitants  and  as  it  has  but  an  insuficient  number  of 
manufactures,  it  is  indispensable  to  bring  from  Europe 
every  things  which  they  fournish.  The  means  America 
offers  to  exchange  are  corn,  flower,  timber  :  the  first 
article,  the  most  productive,  cannot  be  transported  in 
time  of  peace  and  offers  but  momentareous  advantages. 
The  importation  of  things  manufactured  obliges  them  to 
make  advances  in  money.  They  are  sold  with  difficulty 
and  require  a  great  lengh  of  time  because  every  body  in 
this  country  being  merchants  order  every  kind  of  goods 
it  wants.  The  best  trade  is  that  of  commission :  it 
produce  some  advantage  and  offers  little  danger.  2°.  The 
acquisition  of  cultivated  land  is  of  very  little  benefit. 
The  most  interet  you  may  receive  is  five  for  cent.  The 
plantors  who  have  commonly  a  great  number  of  tenants 
find  much  difficulty  in  being  paid  their  revenu.  It  is  ver}^ 
often  the  case  in  a  representative  governement  where 
the  people  have  acquired  to  extensive  a  share  of  the 
politicals  rights.  In  such  a  governement  those  who  are 
at  the  head  of  the  administration  wants  a  great  popularity 
and  to  obtain  it  they  favour  every  claim  of  the  multitude. 
To  the  difficulty  which  keeps  the  tenants  from  paying 
their  rentes  it  is  necessary  to  add  the  inconveniency  which 


1793]        CONDITION  OF  UNITED  STATES  135 

arises  from  tittle  not  well  ascertained,  which  is  very  often 
the  case.  In  short,  the  rentes  are  so  small  and  the 
expences  of  justice  so  great  that  the  proprietor  had 
rather  give  up  his  rights  than  have  recourse  to  the  law. 
3°.  The  loan  is  permitted  upon  security  or  privilege  ;  the 
deposit  authorised  by  the  law  is  inscribed  upon  a  public 
register,  so  that  it  is  not  possible  to  be  deceived.  It  is 
one  of  the  best  methods  to  make  use  of  money.  You 
may  receive  as  much  as  seven  for  cent.  4°.  The  loan 
upon  the  United  States  gives  an  interest  now  of  seven  for 
cent,  but  the  principal  sum  you  deposit  suffers  all  the 
mutation  which  please  those  who  play  upon  public 
founds  and  the  discredit  which  the  instability  of  the 
fortune  of  this  country  and  the  uncertainty  of  its  goveme- 
ment  incite  in  Europe.  5°.  The  reestablishement  of  French 
colonies  is  uncertain,  and  perhaps  the  moment  it  will  take 
place  far  from  the  present ;  but  the  instant  it  shall  take 
place  be  very  favourable  to  the  possessors  of  land  in  this 
country.  6°.  The  acquisition  of  uncultivated  land  is  of  a 
very  great  advantage.  The  settlement  of  few  families 
doubles  directly  the  capital  sum  and  two  years  after  the 
first  cultivation  one  receive  four  times  what  he  has 
expended.  To  succeed  with  a  certainty  it  is  necessary  to 
choose  very  good  land,  springs,  naviguables  rivers  and 
to  dispose  of  such  people  as  are  determine  to  give  you 
all  their  time  and  industry.  I  had  the  peculiar  advantage 
to  met  with  people  of  that  description.  Resuming  my 
opinion  about  what  concern  this  country,  I  think  it  will 
not  come  to  a  way  that  the  people  is  very  much  divided 
in  political  sentiments,  that  the  majority  of  representa- 
tives and  of  the  executive  power  is  well  disposed  to  your 
country,  that  the  governement  of  the  Unitate  States  un- 
certain and  fearful  against  the  multitude  cannot  now 
sufftciently  assure  the  property  and  liberty  of  individuals, 
that  the  revolution  of  France  had  a  fatal  influence  upon 
the  constitution  of  America,  and  so  much  that  if  the 
French  republic  could  be  established,  it  might  overturn 


136  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

that  of  this  country  or  divide  the  federacy  in  two  parts; 
that  this  country  offers  rather  occasion  to  reestabhsh 
some  broken  fortune  than  to  make  people  in  general 
happy. 

After  I  will  have  seen  the  opinion  of  the  Americain 
fixed  with  respect  to  the  affairs  of  France,  what  I  hope  will 
not  be  long,  I  shall  make  a  journey  in  the  country,  with 
several  of  my  friends  able  to  judge  the  value  of  the  land. 
I  shall  go  as  far  as  Niagara,  Montreal,  Quebec  and  see  all 
your  new  settlements.  My  absence  will  be  more  useful 
to  confirm  the  opinion  I  want  to  see  prevail  in  this 
country  than  my  stay  in  Philadelphia.  People  at  last 
might  believe  if  I  should  continue  in  town  that  the 
expression  of  my  sentiments  are  dictated  by  some  other 
object  than  public  happiness. 

I  have  often  seen  here  your  Minister,  M.  Hammond,^  and 
your  consul.  The  first  is  an  exceeding  good  man, 
true,  open,  very  much  attached  to  the  interests  of 
his  country.  I  believe  the  second  in  the  same  disposi- 
tion and  of  a  good  intelligence  with  M.  Hamond.  Lord 
Grenville  has  not  sent  the  letter  mentioned  to  you,  I  am 
astonished  that  he  has  not  performed  his  promise. 

I  should  beg  your  pardon  for  writing  so  long  letter, 
did  I  not  think  that  it  contains  some  particulars  useful  to 
the  cause  you  suport  and  that  my  former  knowledge  of  this 
country  has  rendered  me  able  to  observe.  What  I  men- 
tioned relative  to  the  employment  of  founds  may  be 
serviceable  to  those  of  our  countrymen  who  may  be 
desirous  of  an  establishment  here.  Many  of  those  who 
came  lately  have  expended  without  judgement  the 
remains  of  ther  fortune. 

I  preserve,  dear  Windham,  the  hope  of  seeing  you  in 
London  before  January  next. 

1  George  Hammond  (1763-1853),  First  British  Minister  at  Washing- 
ton (1791-1795).  Subsequently  Under-Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs 
in  the  Pitt  Administration  (1795-1806),  and  in  the  Portland  Adminis- 
tration (1807-9).  He  was  a  friend  of  Canning  and  joint  editor  of  The 
Aitti- Jacobin. 


1793]  "  MR.  PITT'S  WISHES  "  137 

I  wrote  in  English  to  prevent  you  to  read  a  bad  French 
hand.     My  best  compHments  to  one's  friends.^ 

William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 

Downing  Street :  June  14,  1793 
Mr.  Pitt  presents  his  CompHments  to  Mr,  Windham, 
and  wishes  much  if  Mr.  Windham  will  give  him  leave  to 
have  some  Conversation  with  him  before  Monday  on  the 
Subject  of  the  Motion  of  which  Mr.  Fox  has  given  Notice 
for  that  day.2  It  would  also  be  a  great  Satisfaction  to  Mr. 
Pitt  to  have  an  Opportunity,  if  it  is  not  disagreeable 
to  Mr.  Windham,  of  stating  confidentially  to  him  some 
Circumstances  arising  out  of  the  present  State  of  Politics, 
and  which  Mr.  Pitt  rather  wishes  to  communicate  Per- 
sonally to  himself  than  thro'  any  other  Channel.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add  that  if  Mr.  Windham  has  the 
Goodness  to  comply  with  Mr.  Pitt's  Wishes  in  this  respect, 
any  thing  which  may  pass  will  not  transpire  any  where, 
without  Mr.  Windham's  particular  Permission.  Mr. 
Pitt  will  be  at  Leisure  any  hour  either  to-morrow  or 
Sunday,  at  which  Mr.  Windham  would  find  it  convenient 
to  call  in  Downing  Street. ^ 

William  Windham  to  Lord  Chatham 

Hill  Street :  August  1793 

I  take  the  liberty  of  submitting  to  your  Lordship  the 
name  of  a  near  Relation  of  mine,  Mr.  Lukin,*  who  having 
served  as  yet  in  no  capacity  but  that  of  a  Midshipman, 
cannot  be  known  to  your  Lordship,  but  by  means  of  such 
a  communication. 

He  was  about  the  age  of  twelve  when  He  was  sent  to 
sea,  and  passed  for  a  Lieutenant  about  four  or  five  years 
since.  His  wish  for  service  could  not  have  been  sooner 
expressed,  as  He  is  but  just  returned  from  Abroad. 

1  Add  MSS.  37855  f.  29. 

2  Fox's  motion  against  the  war,  which  was  defeated. 

3  Add.  MSS.  37844  f  7.  1  WiUiam,  afterwards  Captain,  Lukin. 


138  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

If  in  case  of  any  promotion  of  Midshipmen,  Your  Lord- 
ship will  have  the  goodness  to  inquire  into  his  character 
from  different  Captains  with  whom  He  has  served,  I 
should  esteem  it  a  mark  of  obliging  attention  :  and  have 
no  doubt,  that  his  pretensions  and  merits,  whatever  they 
may  be,  will  meet  from  Your  Lordship  all  the  consideration, 
that  shall  be  their  due.^ 

On  July  10,  1793,  Windham  left  England  for  the 
Netherlands,  with  the  object  of  seeing  for  himself  the 
state  of  the  Army  under  the  Duke  of  York.  He  went  to 
Valenciennes,  then  being  besieged  by  the  Allies,  and  with 
characteristic  but  somewhat  reckless  courage,  spent  some 
time  in  the  trenches  under  fire. 

Extract  from  Windham's  Diary 

July  19,  1793.  This  was  the  day  of  our  seeing  the 
French  camp  from  the  little  mound  with  a  pole  upon  it. 
To  St.  Arnaud,  the  Abbey,  the  Vicoque,  and  Bonne 
Esperance,  and  back  by  Augin.  This  was  the  day  follow- 
ing the  preceding,  and  that  on  which  they  fired  some 
cannon  shot  at  us,  by  one  of  which  Phipps'  horse  was 
wounded.  I  shall  never  fail  to  regret  my  foolish  dilatori- 
ness,  and  want  of  consideration,  in  not  having  decided 
then  to  take  my  leave.  Had  I  gone  then  I  had  stayed  a 
blessed  time  !  By  suffering  myself  to  stay  on  beyond 
that,  I  have  outstayed  my  interest,  and  left  myself  with  a 
doubt  upon  my  mind,  for  which,  before,  there  could  not 
have  been  a  pretence,  whether  something  more  should 
not  have  been  done.  I  had  seen  the  trenches  the  day  of 
the  truce  ;  and  when  there  was  no  danger,  I  had  then 
gone  down  twice  besides,  once  by  daylight  and  once  by 
night  ;  at  the  former  of  which  time  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  lire  of  cannon  and  shells,  and  at  the  latter  of  musketry. 
It  was  at  the  latter  of  those  times  that  a  sergeant  of  the 

1  Add.  MSS.  37914  f.  55- 


1793]    THE  DUKE  OF  YORK  UNDER  FIRE       139 

14*'*  had  his  head  shot  off.  I  had  rode  about  every- 
where, and,  as  it  happened,  had  run  some  risk.  I  had 
done  enough  to  satisfy  myself  and  to  show  to  others,  what, 
if  it  is  very  necessary  to  be  conscious  of  oneself,  it  is 
pleasant  also  to  have  known.  B}^  not  going  to  the  storm 
by  the  covered  way,  though  I  forbore  only,  what  ever}^  one 
would  have  said  it  was  absurd  to  do,  except  at  least  a 
few  people,  whose  opinions  perhaps  are  not  worth  much, 
yet  1  felt  something  below  what  some  might  have  expected. 
One  way  of  putting  it  may  be.  Was  it  a  thing,  which  would 
have  been  more  praised  or  blamed,  had  it  been  done  ? 
Would  it,  considering  all  circumstances,  have  raised  the 
character  of  the  actor  or  have  depressed  it  ?  It  is  the 
hope,  that  it  might  have  had  with  some  good  judges  even 
the  latter  effect,  that  can  alone  reconcile  me  to  the  not 
having  done  it.  The  decision  taken  of  avoiding  any 
intermediate  course,  if  I  was  not  wholly  to  engage,  was,  I 
think,  right.  I  observed  at  least  a  distinct  line,  that  of 
keeping  throughout  with  the  Duke  of  York.  It  is  most 
fortunate  for  my  own  satisfaction  that  the  Duke  went  into 
the  trenches  and  not  amiss,  that  there  was,  during  the  time, 
a  pretty  smart  fire.  The  head  of  an  Austrian  was  knocked 
off,  who  was  walking  a  few  paces  before  the  Duke,  and  a 
Guardsman  was  knocked  down  while  we  were  standing 
near  the  battery. 

Windham  was  still  with  the  Duke  of  York  when  the 
garrison  of  Valenciennes  surrendered  on  July  28. 

Extract  from  Windham's  Diary 

August  I,  1793.  Up  at  six  in  order  to  be  present 
at  the  grand  ceremony  of  the  troops  marching  out,  and 
laying  down  their  arms.  Few  scenes  in  life  can  be  con- 
ceived of  equal  magnificence.  Such  a  union  of  troops 
drawn  from  countries  the  most  remote,  and  considered  as 
of  the  first  character  at  this  time  in  Europe  ;    such  a 


140  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

display  of  officers,  of  the  highest  rank,  and  most  dis- 
tinguished reputation,  such  splendour  of  appearance, 
such  variety  of  character,  such  a  combination  of  strong 
interests,  can  hardly  be  imagined  to  have  been  found  on 
any  one  occasion.  In  the  midst  of  the  general  feeling 
excited  by  such  a  scene,  it  was  a  fine  thing  to  have  had  as 
parts  of  it,  corps  of  the  British  troops  who  had  either  had 
their  share  of  honours  in  the  preceding  duties,  or  were 
calculated  to  do  credit  to  the  country,  by  their  appearance 
and  equipment. 

The  da}'  which  at  first  was  cloudy,  turned  out  after- 
wards, to  be  as  brilliant,  as  could  be  wished.  Nothing 
was  wanting  to  me,  to  the/«2^/  of  enjoyment  of  the  occasion, 
but  that  I  should  have  been  party  to  the  service  which 
immediately  produced  it,  or  should  at  least  not  have  been 
in  a  situation  in  which  I  could  have  been  party  to  it. 


Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  to  William  Windham 

Minto  :  August  4,  1793 
I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  your 
letter,  nor  how  much  pleasure  it  has  given  me.  I  am 
extremely  glad  that  you  was  present  at  the  catastrophe 
and  that  your  specimen  of  military  life  has  thus  been 
complete  in  all  its  parts.  I  enjoy  as  highly  as  it  is 
possible  to  enjoy,  per  alium,  all  the  pleasure  and  all  the 
sorts  of  pleasure  which  this  expedition  has  given  you. 
I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  should  have  liked  to  be  there, 
nor  that  my  relish  of  the  thing  would  have  been  amazingly 
heighten'd  by  a  participation  in  it  with  you.  But  there 
is  nothing  like  envy  in  my  regret  for  this  loss  ;  for  on  the 
contrary  the  enjoyment  you  have  had  in  it  is  not  only 
agreeable  to  me  in  itself,  but  is  a  sort  of  compensation 
to  me  for  my  own  absence.  Your  way  of  seeing  and 
enjoying  such  things,  I  am  willing  to  flatter  myself  is  so 
much  akin  to  my  own,  that  I  feel  as  if  it  was  gone  in  the 
family  though  it  did  not  fall  to  my  own  share.     I  am 


G.  Chiiineyy.  fntxi.  ,,■  y  Eihvards.  sculpt. 

SIR    GII.KERr    ELLIOT,    KIRST    EARL    OF    MINTO 


1793]         WINDHAM  IN  THE  TRENCHES  141 

exceedingly  gratified  indeed  by  your  understanding  so 
justly  the  sort  and  degree  of  interest  I  take  in  all  that 
concerns  you  ;  not  only  in  your  welfare,  in  your  fame,  in 
your  interests,  but  even  in  your  own  feelings  about  your- 
self. I  am  also  highly  delighted  with  the  unlimited  con- 
fidence you  are  willing  to  place  in  me,  of  which  you  could 
offer  no  proof  more  perfect  than  your  readiness  to  have 
told  me  faithfully  your  feelings  in  the  trenches,  even  if 
they  had  been  different  from  what  they  proved.  If  they 
had  been  of  the  other  sort,  and  3/0U  had  told  me  so,  I  should 
have  given  you  credit  for  courage,  not  less  in  degree,  and 
of  a  much  higher  kind,  than  that  which  no  man  could 
doubt  in  you  but  yourself,  even  without  the  experiment. 
For  as  the  mind  is  superior  to  matter,  so  is  magnanimity; 
or  the  valour  of  the  mind,  to  that  of  the  nerves.  But  I 
am  still  better  pleased  to  know  that  you  have  both.  I 
know  that  you  resolve  almost  all  questions  of  conduct; 
small  as  well  as  great,  into  questions  of  duty ;  and  if 
you  sometimes  hesitate  when  others  would  see  no  room 
for  doubt,  it  is  in  a  great  degree  because  you  are  more 
anxious  to  be  right ;  and  the  chance  of  being  wrong  is 
more  uneas}?'  to  you  than  to  almost  an}'  man  I  have  ever 
known.  I  honour  this  principle  too  highly  to  quarrel 
even  with  any  little  error  in  the  going  of  the  machine  that 
may  be  incident  to  it.  My  indulgence  is,  indeed,  the 
cheaper,  as  I  cannot  refuse  myself  the  justice  to  claim 
kindred  with  you  here  also.  But  I  have  thought  of  a 
compensation  piece,  or  rather  a  balance  to  steady  these 
little  fluctuations  and  to  render  the  motion  more  uniform, 
which  I  dedicate  to  you  as  a  Patron  of  such  improve- 
ments,^ hoping  to  give  no  offence  to  Sir  George  Shuck- 
borough  ^  or  the  Astronomer  Roj^al.  The  invention  has 
this  presumption  in  its  favour,  that  it  is  perfectly  simple. 

1  A  humorous  allusion  to  Windham's  service  upon  the  committee 
appointed  to  investigatet  he  claim  of  Thomas  Mudge.  See  ante,  p.  1 12 
note. 

2  Sir  George  Augustus  William  Shuckburgh -Evelyn,  Bt.  (1751- 
1804),  the  author  of  a  number  of  mathematical  treatises. 


142  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

It  is  only  a  certain  degree  of  hardiness  in  acting  on  what 
appears  to  be  right  on  balance.  Suppose  a  scale  of 
Right  in  which  20  is  the  highest  number.  Take,  then,  an 
alternative  to  decide  on,  of  which  one  side  shall  stand  in 
the  scale  at  10 — ^the  other  at  9.  I  say,  act  on  10,  as 
firmly  as  if  9  did  not  exist.  You  will  say  this  hesitation 
is  occasioned  by  the  difficulty  of  observing  correctly 
at  what  number  each  side  stands,  not  by  want  of  firm- 
ness afterwards.  I  am  not  sure  of  this.  Hesitation  is 
often  occasioned  by  what  you  say,  and  then  it  is  right  ; 
but  there  is  also  in  many  cases  a  subsequent  hesitation, 
and  fluctuation,  as  if  the  two  sides  of  the  question  were 
pulling,  not  uniformly  and  constantly  one  against  the 
other,  so  that  the  strongest  should  be  sure  of  prevailing, 
but  separately  and  alternately,  so  that  tho'  the  strongest 
pulls  furthest  at  each  pull,  yet  in  the  interval  of  its  action, 
the  weaker  pulls  back  again,  and  great  part  of  the  work 
must  be  perpetually  repeated,  and  then  the  question  is 
determined  not  by  who  pulls  strongest  but  who  pulls  last. 
When  I  mention'd  your  anxiety  to  be  right,  I  did  not 
mean  to  talk  of  any  error ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  to  this 
excellent  part  of  your  character  that  a  great  proportion  of 
that  homage  which  the  whole  world  is  paying  you,  ought 
to  be  ascribed  ;  and  amongst  the  rest  it  is  to  this  virtuous 
principle  that  for  one  I  profess  to  give  the  very  high 
esteem  which  you  know  I  have  for  you,  although  I  beg  you 
to  remember  that  I  claim  friendship  and  affection  with 
you  on  many  other  grounds  of  private  endearment  and 
early  habits.  I  mention'd  your  anxiety  on  these  points, 
only  to  say  that  I  enter  entirely  into  it  on  this  occasion, 
and  am  very  happy  to  give  you  my  clear  suffrage  both 
for  what  you  have  done,  and  what  you  have  omitted. 
You  was  certainly  right  to  visit  the  Trenches.  You 
would  have  certainly  been  most  exceedingly  culpable  for 
mounting  a  breach,  or  otherwise  exposing  your  life  to 
considerable  and,  in  j^our  case,  wholly  gratuitous,  and 
impertinent  hazard.     If  others  did  so,  in  my  opinion  they 


1793]  LORD  SPENCER  143 

were  wrong  ;  but  no  two  cases  are  alike  on  this  question, 
and  taking  all  circumstances  into  the  account,  publick 
and  private,  it  would  have  been  more  blameable  in  you 
than  any  Englishman,  or  perhaps  any  other  man  alive. 

It  is  now  time  to  talk  to  you  of  something  else,  not  less 
important  perhaps  than  the  scene  you  have  left,  tho' 
less  splendid  and  animating.  But  it  is  the  proper  sphere 
of  your  action  ;  and  one  in  which  you  are  not  a  spectator, 
but  called  by  God  who  gave  you  the  means,  by  the  world 
which  wants  the  use  of  them,  by  yourself  and  friends 
towards  both  of  whom  you  have  an  account  to  render, 
to  perform  a  principal  part.  I  seem  to  be  threatening 
you  with  the  subject  at  large  ;  but  altho'  I  wish  to  do  so; 
and  I  know  I  could  find  no  time  more  favourable  than 
when  you  are  just  returned  from  witnessing  great  exer- 
tions in  the  same  common  cause,  and  must,  therefore, 
be  the  more  impressed  with  the  duty  and  desire  to  be 
doing  yourself,  and  to  take  your  share  in  these  great  con- 
cerns of  the  world,  yet  I  must  for  want  of  time  confine 
myself  to  one  part  of  the  subject  which  does  not  admit 
of  delay.  I  left  London  the  day  before  you  ;  on  my 
arrival  here  I  reflected  on  what  had  passed  between  us 
concerning  Lord  Spencer,^  and  the  possibility  of  his 
acceptance.  This  was  not  known  to  ministers,  who 
thought  on  the  contrary  the  thing  over.  They  might 
therefore  take  such  steps  towards  another  arrangement 
as  might  fix  some  much  worse  choice.  Thinking,  as  I 
do,  that  Lord  Spencer's  filling  that  most  important  and 
critical  station  is  of  real  and  urgent  consequence  to  that 
country,  to  this  country,  and,  considering  the  sort  of 
danger  to  be  apprehended  from  thence,  to  the  rest  of  the 
world,  I  judged  it  absolutely  necessary  to  let  Dundas^ 
know  the  possibility  of  his  going  to  Ireland.  I  did  so  by 
letter,  but  with  every  sort  of  caution  which  could  prevent 

1  George  John  Spencer,  second  Earl  Spencer  (17 58-1 834). 

2  Henry  Dundas  (1739-1811)  ;  Home  Secretary,  1791-4  ;  Secretary 
of  War,  1794-1801  ;  created  Viscount  Melville,  1802. 


144  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

Lord  Spencer  from  being  committed.  I  desired  Mr. 
Dundas  to  wait  for  your  return  before  any  step  should 
be  taken  towards  renewing  the  proposition  to  Lord 
Spencer.  He  promised  to  do  so  in  his  answer,  but 
presses  me  to  lose  no  time  after  your  arrival,  in  getting 
you  to  bring  the  subject  forward.  If  you  receive  this 
letter  in  time,  you  had  much  better  see  Pitt  or  Dundas  on 
the  subject  immediately.  If  not  you  will,  I  am  sure,  feel 
the  importance  of  the  matter  sufficiently  to  use  such 
means  as  occur  to  you  with  Lord  Spencer  instantly.  The 
Irish  arrangement  stands  entirely  still  on  this  account; 
and  Government  is  naturally,  I  believe,  impatient  to 
settle  it. 

I  received  your  letter  this  morning  and  have  time  for 
no  more.  I  presume  you  will  be  in  England  before  this 
letter  reaches  London.  Lady  Malmesbury  is  here  on  her 
way  to  Kinnaird,  Sir  David  Carnegie's.  Lady  Elliot  sends 
you  her  kindest  compliments  and  is  happy  to  hear  that 
your  tour  has  give  you  so  much  satisfaction,  but  she 
will  not  repent  of  my  having  resisted  the  same  temptation. 
I  hope  when  you  answer  this  to  hear  that  your  health 
has  not  suffer'd,  and  that  you  have  recovered  the  extra- 
ordinary fatigue  you  have  been  exposed  to. 

Do  not  dela}'  the  Irish  business  ;  but  if  you  have 
leisure,  pray  write  your  present  thoughts  and  intentions 
on  what  relates  to  your  own  situation.  The  enemies  of 
all  good,  as  you  so  will  call  them,  seem  to  have  hopes 
from  Ireland.  Your  stout  cooperation  in  England  will 
be  wanted,  and  I  confess  I  look  forward  with  comfort  to 
the  prospect  of  acting  in  consort  with  you,  tho'  on  a 
different  stage ;  possibly  of  corresponding  with  you 
directly  on  this  great  work. 

[P.S.]  Lord  Spencer  need  not  and  I  think,  should  not 
know  of  my  letter  to  Dundas.^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37852  f.  212. 


1793]  THE  IRISH  VICEROYALTY  145 

Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  to  William  Windham 

Minto  :  August  13,  1793 

Not  having  heard  from  you,  I  presume  you  are  taking 
steps  with  Lord  Spencer,  and  that  you  will  not  write 
till  you  can  tell  me  the  result,  I  am  so  far  off,  that  a 
great  delay  will  be  occasion 'd  by  making  me  the  medium 
of  your  communication  with  Dundas  on  this  subject  ; 
and  as  I  advised  you  to  go  directly  to  him,  I  have  now 
advised  him  to  see  or  to  write  to  you  on  the  subject.  I 
thought  it  right  to  let  you  know,  however,  that  I  have 
done  so.  The  more  I  hear  of  Ireland  the  more  im- 
portant I  think  Lord  Spencer's  mission,  and  the  more 
anxious  I  am  for  his  acceptance  of  it. 

You  know,  or  if  not,  I  tell  you  in  confidence  that  Lord 
Malmesbury  ^  is  extremely  desirous  of  Ireland.  I  shall 
speak  to  you  quite  frankly,  on  the  subject.  Lord 
Spencer's  character  and  name  is  of  the  sort  that  is  wanted 
there,  and  being  united  with  understanding  and  talents, 
I  consider  him  as  precisely  what  the  occasion  calls  for, 
and  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  country  has  a  strong 
claim  to  his  services.  If  it  should  happen,  however,  that 
they  cannot  be  obtained,  and  he  is  put  out  of  the  question, 
not  knowing  any  other  person  of  the  same  description  on 
whom  the  choice  can  fall,  I  presume  it  will  be  made  on  a 
different  principle,  and  they  will  either  fix  on  some  friend 
of  a  negative  quality  ;  or  employ  some  able  man  of 
business.  The  latter  would  be  the  better  principle,  pro- 
vided character  is  not  too  much  forgot  in  the  choice. 
Looking  through  the  Peerage,  I  believe  impartially  that 
they  will  find  none  so  well  qualified  by  ability,  official 
habits  and  the  great  talent  of  knowing  and  conciliating 
men  as  Lord  Malmesbury.  The  entire  cordiality  and 
confidence  between  him  and  me  would  undoubtedly  be 
another  very  favourable  and  useful  point ;  and  if  there 

1  James  Harris,  first  Baron   Malmesbury  (1746-1820),  diplomatist 
and  politician  ;  created  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  1800. 

I  K 


146  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

may  be  supposed  any  difference  between  his  general 
views  and  mine  of  Publick  Principles  and  dutys,  I  will 
ventm"e  to  say  that  in  the  sort  of  business  that  belongs 
to  that  offtce,  he  will  be  more  likely  to  approach  to  me 
than  to  draw  me  after  him.  In  a  word,  after  Lord 
Spencer  I  should  prefer  him,  and  I  am  persuaded  he  is 
amongst  the  best,  if  not  the  best  qualified.  I  feel,  how- 
ever, the  impossibilitj'  of  my  suggesting  either  him  or 
any  other.  I  mention  all  this  to  you,  both  for  the  sake 
of  saying  every  thing  to  3'ou  which  I  think,  and  also  that  if 
you  should  happen  to  agree  with  me  and  an  opportunity 
should  occur  in  which  that  opinion  might  drop  from  you, 
it  might  not  be  lost.  I  pledge  my  Faith  and  Honour  to 
you  in  the  mean  while  that  Lord  Malmesbury  shall  never 
know  of  his  name  having  been  mentioned  to  you,  unless 
it  should  hereafter  prove  agreeable  to  you  ;  so  you  can 
feel  yourself  under  no  embarrassment  of  delicacy  on  this 
subject. 

I  long  to  have  Valenciennes  in  detail  from  you ;  but 
that  will  not  be  to-morrow.-^ 


William  Windham  to  The  Duke  of  Portland 

Felbrigg  :  September  3,  1793 

I  was  more  unfortunate  than  your  Grace  can  conceive 
in  missing  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  at  my  return  from 
the  Continent.  Lord  William  had  told  me  so  confidently 
that  you  would  certainly  be  at  Welbeck  that  I  was  careless 
about  inquiring  the  first  day  of  my  arrival :  and  the 
day  afterwards,  I  think,  had  the  mortification  of  finding 
that,  if  I  had  inquired,  I  should  have  been  in  time. 

Among  my  reasons  of  regret  on  this  occasion  is  the 
missing  an  opportunity  of  talking  to  your  Grace  on 
subjects  which,  however  little  to  me,  I  am  sure,  and 
probably  even  to  your  Grace,  are  not  for  that  reason  less 
necessary  to  be  consider 'd.     I  fear  the  return  of  such  ques- 

»  Add.  MSS.  37852  f.  216. 


I 


1793]    FAVOURING  THE  FRENCH  SYSTEM       147 

tions  as  that  which  I  mentioned  to  your  Grace  at  the  close 
of  the  last  session,  which,  though  laid  asleep  for  the 
present,  will  probably  be  brought  up  again  ;  and  I  wish  to 
put  myself  in  as  good  a  state  as  I  can,  for  forming  a  firm 
and  satisfactory  judgement  upon  them.  The  situation 
beyond  all  comparison  most  agreeable  to  me  would  be 
that  of  a  mere  member  of  Parliament,  maintaining  from 
time  to  time  my  own  opinion  in  debate,  and  giving  to 
Ministry,  in  a  cause  which  I  approved,  the  benefits  of  a 
support  which  would  become  of  some  value  from  its  total 
exemption  from  the  suspicion  of  any  undue  motive.  The 
thought  of  any  closer  connection  is  one  from  which  I 
shrink  with  perfect  dread  :  yet  I  am  far  from  being 
convinced  that  it  may  not  be  necessary  :  and  for  that 
reason  am  anxious  to  be  provided  as  much  as  possible 
with  the  opinions  and  views  of  those  to  whose  judgements 
I  am  accustomed  to  look  up,  and  with  a  view  to  whose 
conduct  I  should  wish  to  regulate  my  own. 

It  is  plain  that  the  plan  of  those  who  are  friendly  in 
different  degrees  to  the  French  system,  is  to  endeavour 
to  rescue  it  from  final  overthrow,  by  rendering  the  war 
unpopular  here,  and  thus  to  destroy  the  confederacy 
which  at  present  threatens  it,  and  which,  when  once 
dissolved,  is  never  likely  to  be  again  united.  If  this 
plan  succeeds,  there  is  an  end  in  my  opinion  to  all  hopes 
of  maintaining  the  constitution  of  this  country,  or  of 
preserving  anything  like  regular  and  orderly  government 
in  any  country  in  Europe.  Should  it  even  fail,  I  do  not 
conceive  it  will  fail  so  completely,  or  the  success  of  the 
opposite  system  be  so  entire,  as  not  to  leave  Europe 
exposed  for  a  series  of  years  to  the  danger  which  now 
threatens  it,  and  not  to  require  all  the  exertions  which 
wise  and  well-intentioned  men  can  use  to  keep  down  the 
operation  of  opposite  principles.  The  differences,  there- 
fore, that  now  separate  people  in  their  political  conduct 
are  not  only  of  the  most  important  kind,  but  likely,  as 
I  conceive,  to  be  of  very  long  continuance.    To  me  it 


148  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

seems  that  the  world  in  my  time  is  not  likely  to  be  in  a 
state  in  which,  with  such  opinions  as  I  conceive  Fox  to 
have,  and  with  such  persons  as  he  will  probably  be  for  ever 
connected  with,  I  could  wish  to  see  him  Minister  of  this 
Country.  The  only  choice,  therefore,  that  will  be 
left  to  me  and  others  who  are  of  that  opinion;  will  be 
either  to  remain  a  third  body,  or  rather  a  third,  inde- 
pendent collection  of  individuals,  supporting  Ministry 
but  not  joining  them  ;  or  to  incorporate  ourselves,  at 
some  period  and  in  some  circumstances,  with  those  to 
whom,  as  party  men,  we  have  hitherto  been  opposed. 
This  question,  on  which  there  is  probably  much  diversity 
of  opinion,  among  those  even  who  admit  it  to  be  the  only 
one  remaining,  and  on  which  much  may  be  said  on  both 
sides,  might  safely  perhaps  be  deferred,  and  left  to  the 
decision  of  future  circumstances,  if  it  was  not  for  that 
part  which  involves  the  consideration  of  Ireland.  The 
situation  of  Ireland  is  so  important  and  so  critical  that  it 
forms  an  epoch  by  itself  ;  and  may  be  a  reason  for 
anticipating  a  decision  which  otherwise  it  might  be  very 
desirable  to  keep  for  some  time  in  suspense. 

The  views  which  open  on  this  occasion,  if  Ministry  are 
fairly  desirous  on  their  part  of  establishing  a  government 
on  a  firm  and  constitutional  basis,  and  restoring  to  the 
Aristocracy  of  the  Country  the  influence  which  they  have 
so  much  contributed  to  strip  it  of,  and  if  it  is  thought  on 
the  other  that  such  a  union  ought  to  take  place,  would 
be,  of  course,  that  some  person  of  proper  consideration 
should  go  to  Ireland,  while  a  corresponding  weight, 
sufficient  to  ensure  an  honourable  support,  should  be 
placed  in  the  Cabinet  here.  Persons  proper  for  all 
those  stations  are  certainly  not  wanting,  nor  would  an 
arrangement  for  their  admission  seem  to  be  difficult,  sup- 
posing Ministry  to  have  a  real  view  to  the  Interests  of  the 
Country;  and  not  to  be  seeking  merely  to  break  and  dis- 
unite those  who  might  in  future  be  opposed  to  them. 
The  wishes  of  Ministry  have  hitherto  seemed  to  point  only 


1793]  LORD  SPENCER  149 

to  Lord  Spencer  ;  but  if  the  grounds  on  which  this  wish 
has  been  formed  have  been  good,  it  would  apply  not  more 
to  him  than  to  others  of  similar  description,  could  they 
be  induced  to  take  that  situation.  At  all  events.  Lord 
Spencer  would  hardly  be  induced  to  place  himself  there, 
nor  would  well  indeed  be  advised  to  do  so,  without  a 
better  assurance  of  support  at  home,  than  there  appears 
at  present  the  means  of  forming.  If  Ministers  are  not 
sincere  or  not  honest  in  their  views, — an  opinion  which 
I  should  have  no  particular  difficulty  of  admitting — 
nothing  remains  but  to  continue  the  course  which  one 
is  at  present  pursuing :  but  if  the  fact  be  otherwise,  and 
that  they  are  really  desirous,  though  for  purposes  of  their 
own,  of  forming  an  administration  on  its  true  bottom,  it  is 
a  matter  certainly  to  be  well  consider'd  whether  such  a 
disposition  ought  to  be  frustrated,  and  an  opportunity 
lost  which  may  never  again  return  with  equal  advantage 
to  the  country. 

I  am  sure  I  am  as  impartial  upon  this  subject  as  a 
person  can  well  be, — as  impartial,  at  least,  if  I  may  make 
a  good  bull,  on  one  side  :  for  there  is  really  nothing  that  I 
dread  so  much  as  the  necessity  of  taking  any  part  in  a 
measure  which  I  seem  to  be  recommending.  Though 
I  have  brought  myself  to  the  state  of  being  ready  to  do 
whatever  should  be  necessary,  I  am  very  far  from  having 
prepared  myself  equally  in  point  of  inclination  :  My 
likings  are  all  the  other  way,  and  are  yielded  only  to 
arguments  which  I  don't  know  well  how  to  resist. 

If  Welbeck  were  not  so  distant,  or  my  desire  so  strong 
of  enjoying  for  some  time  a  state  of  perfect  retirement,  I 
should  like  to  wait  upon  your  Grace,  and  talk  over  these 
matters  more  fully  than  can  be  done  by  letter.  Your 
Grace,  however,  may  be  as  well  satisfied  not  to  hear  of 
them :  and  it  may  be  necessary  rather  to  apologize 
for  having  said  so  much,  than  to  regret  the  want  of  an 
opportunity  of  saying  more.  At  all  events  I  will  desist 
here.     It  would  have  been  pleasant  to  me  to  have  seen 


150  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

your  Grace  when  I  came  fresh  from  seeing  Lord  WilHam  ; 
and  to  have  told  you  how  much  his  character  appears 
to  advantage,  as  it  is  more  and  more  discovered.  Though 
such  testimonials  you  must  have  had  from  many  other 
persons,  I  am  happy  to  add  mine  to  the  number.-^ 

H.R.H.  Tpie  Duke  of  York   to  William  Windham 

[^Address  illegible]  September  4,  1793 

1  take  the  earliest  opportunity  in  my  power  to  acknow- 
ledge the  receipt  of  your  very  obliging  Letter,  and  to 
express  to  you  how  glad  I  am  that  you  are  pleased  with 
your  stay  among  us. 

We  are  busily  employed  at  present  in  preparing  every- 
thing to  begin  the  Siege  of  Dunkirk,  and  I  hope  in  a  very 
few  days  to  be  able  to  open  the  Trenches.  Ever  since  the 
affair  of  the  24th  the  Enemy  have  left  us  exceedingly 
quiet  ;  firing,  only  a  few  random  shot  and  shells  every 
day,  which,  however,  have  done  no  mischief  whatsoever. 
I  am  exceedingly  anxious  to  get  this  town  into  our 
possession,  as  I  think  it  of  great  national  consequence 
and  besides  that  it  will  render  the  rest  of  the  campaign 
very  easy. 

We  are  given  to  understand  here  that  there  is  a  very 
considerable  revolt  among  the  Peasants  between  Aire 
and  St.  Omer,  and  that  they  have  already  beat  the 
garrison  of  Aix,  which  marched  out  against  them,  they 
have  risen  in  consequence  of  the  decree  of  the  Convention 
to  force  every  person  from  the  age  of  Sixteen  to  Sixty 
to  serve. 

We  have  no  account  as  yet  concerning  the  fate  of  the 
poor  Queen  of  France, 2  though  from  the  last  newspapers 
I  have  seen  I  am  affraid  that  there  is  very  little  chance 
of  Her  being  alive  at  this  moment.^ 

»  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  13. 

2  Marie  Antoinette  was  tried  on  October  14,  and  executed  two  days 
later. 

3  Add.  MSS;  37842  f.  63. 


1793]  THE  DUNKIRK  EXPEDITION  151 

Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

Oxford  :  September  14,  1793 
I  met  with  your  Letter  of  the  12th  here  on  my  way 
back    from    Althorp    from    Hampshire,    and    having    a 
leisure  quarter  of  an  hour  before  bed  time,  avail  myself 
of  it  to  thank  you.     I  confess  I  expected  pretty  much  that 
the  Person  whose  Opinion  you  speak  of  in  it,  could  enter- 
tain those  Sentiments,  and  perhaps  though   I  entirely 
agree  with  you  in  not  having  the  least  hope  of  a  reunion 
with  the  Quarter  alluded  to,  they  are  such  as  I  cannot 
either   be  surprised  at,   or  altogether  disapprove,  con- 
sidering all  circumstances  ;  for  that  Person  having  always 
professed  so  strong  a  difhdence  of  those  in   power,   has 
surely  no  great  reason  for  wishing  a   connection   with 
them  from  anything  that  has  happened  very  lately,  and 
on  the  contrary  may  probably  be  less  inclined  to  it,  from 
what  must  at  least  to  him  have  appeared  in  the  Light 
of  Endeavour  to  detach  from  him  as  many  as  possible  of 
those  of  his  friends,  whose  sentiments  were  the  most  like 
his  own,  and  who  was  the  person  most  likely  to  have 
co-operated  with  him  in  support  of  those  sentiments.     I 
agree  with  you  in  being  decidedly  of  opinion  that  I  could 
not  go  the  least  out  of  my  way  upon  a  hope  of  Reunion 
with   the   other   Gentleman  whose  opinions,  if  they  are 
really  such  as  his  late  Conduct  would  lead  me  to  infer, 
are  such  as  I  shall  be  extremely  sorry  to  give  vn.y  coun- 
tenance to.     The  other  part  of  your  intelligence  may 
possibly  be  here,  and  if  it  is  will  (as  it  appears  to  me) 
circumscribe  the  Part  we  have  to  take  in  this  very  narrow 
Limits  indeed,  as  it  will  put  it  out  of  our  power  to  think 
of  any  other  than  an  unconnected  support  of  Government  : 
while  at  the  same  time  the  state  of  affairs  will  probably 
call  for  a  support  the  most  decided.     Since  you  wrote, 
your  Opinion  upon  the  Dunkirk  Expedition  will  not  have 
been  rendered  more  favourable,  though  I  am  in  hopes  by 
the  News  of  to-day's  Papers,  that  it  is  not  so  bad  as  we 


152  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

had  great  reason  to  apprehend  ;  but  if  the  Plan  was  a 
bad  one,  the  Execution  of  it  does  not  appear  to  have  made 
amends  for  the  Error,  and  I  am  afraid  that  all  those  who 
wish  to  defend  the  Continuation  of  the  War,  will  be  a 
little  put  to  it  to  give  you  an  account  of  the  Conduct  of  it. 
I  have  not  heard  since  from  the  Army,  and  I  conclude 
that  my  correspondent  either  does  not  like  to  enter  un- 
pleasant Accounts,  or  that  he  has  lately  been  too  much 
upon  duty  to  have  an  opportunity  of  writing.  The 
Accounts  from  Toulon  seem  to  be  confirmed  in  the 
Paper  of  to-day,  with  so  many  particulars  that  I  hope 
we  shall  find  them  true,  but  I  don't  quite  understand 
what  is  to  be  done  about  it,  as  I  have  no  idea  of  Lord 
Hood's  having  Land  force  sufficient  to  defend  the  Place, 
and  the  manner  in  which  it  seems  to  have  been  taken 
would  I  should  think,  scarce  permit  of  his  making  the  sort 
of  use  of  the  Capture  that  an  Englishman  would  wish, 
that  is,  to  take  possession  of,  or  destroy  their  Ships  and 
Naval  stores  there.  I  hope,  however,  his  Lordship  will 
send  a  more  distinct  and  intelligible  account  of  his 
transactions  than  your  friend  Sir  James  Murray  does, 
who  I  really  think  improves  in  obscurity  and  myste- 
riousness  every  dispatch  he  writes.  I  am  very  glad 
you  have  not  yet  sent  me  back  C.  Fitzroy's  Letter, 
as  it  will  be  another  opportunity  for  you  to  wTite 
something  with  it,  and  now  I  have  drawn  you  into 
a  correspondence,  I  shall  be  very  unwilling,  I  assure 
you  to  lose  any  occasion  of  encouraging  you  to  the 
continuance  of  it. 

I  was  in  town  for  a  day  last  Saturday,  and  I  saw  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot  in  the  Street.  I  was  in  a  great  hurry  at  the 
time,  or  I  should  have  stopt  to  speak  with  him.  What  can 
have  brought  him  up  from  Scotland  so  soon  ?  I  hear  that 
Parliament  is  to  meet  on  the  29th  of  October.  I  hope 
I  shall  be  able  to  see  you  before  that  time,  and  shall  be 
glad  to  know  whether  you  are  to  be  at  Felbrigg  about 
the  6th   of  that  month,  because  I  am  not  quite  sure 


j..Hoppner,R.A.,tvixt.  J.  irncfit.  df/t. 

GEORCE    IOH\.    EARL   SPEXCER 


//.  Mt:y,'> ,  .uit.'pt. 


i 


1793]  PITT'S  DILEMMA  153 

whether   I   could  not  then  contrive  to  call  on  you  for 
a  day.^ 

Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

St.  Albans  :  September  18,  1793 
I  sit  down  to  write  to  you  without  having  very  well 
considered  in  my  own  Mind  what  I  am  to  write,  but, 
having  a  little  leisure,  cannot  avoid  communicating  the 
apprehensions  I  have  been  forced  into  from  observing  the 
very  awkward  predicament  in  which  we  seem  to  have  got, 
the  difficulties  of  which  appear  to  increase  and  grow  more 
complicated  every  day.  I  was  this  morning  for  a  few 
hours  in  London,  where  dissatisfaction  and  dejection 
seemed  to  me  very  apparent  in  the  face  and  language  of 
every  one  I  happened  to  meet  with.  The  late  total 
failure  of  the  Dunkirk  scheme  has  been  a  great  cause  of 
this,  and  the  very  censureable  neglect  or  mismanagement 
or  perhaps  both  together,  so  conspicuous  in  the  Admiralty, 
has  not  a  little  added  to  it.  It  is  Currently  reported  that 
the  Duke  of  Richmond"  has  justified  his  own  share  of 
the  business  in  a  manner  unanswerable  by  producing 
the  minutest  and  exactest  detail  of  all  the  Orders  received 
and  executed  in  his  department.  The  necessary  conse- 
quence of  his  justification  appears  to  be  Lord  Chatham's  ^ 
condemnation,  and  between  them  they  have  been  the 
means  of  crowning  a  rash  and  ill-concerted  plan  with  a 
lame  and  inefficient  execution.  My  chief  reason  for 
making  all  these  reflections  is  that  I  foresee  we  shall,  by 
and  by,  when  these  matters  are,  as  they  certainly  will  be, 
brought  before  the  publick  with  all  the  exaggeration  and 
aggravation  that  malice  and  ability  can  give  them, 
find  ourselves  in  a  most  distressing  position,  either  obliged 
to  defend  what  we  cannot  in  conscience  think  defensible, 

1  Add.  MSS:   3784s   f:    112. 

2  Charles  Lennox,  third  Duke  of  Richmond   (173  5-1 806),  Master- 
General  of  the  Ordnance,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  1 782-1 795. 

3  John  Pitt,  second  Earl  of  Chatham  (1756-1835),  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  1 788-1 794. 


154  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

or  if  we  join  in  the  Clamour,  which  I  very  much  fear  will 
soon  become  a  popular  one,  give  strength  to  those  whose 
strength  will  be  the  Ruin  and  Subversion  of  everything 
which  we  the  most  wish  to  preserve. 

It  will  be  too  much,  I  doubt,  to  expect  from  Mr.  Pitt, 
that  he  will  have  public  spirit  enough  to  sacrifice  his 
Brother  if  he  is  really  to  blame,  and  if  he  does  not  sacrifice 
him  I  shall  be  almost  afraid  in  the  present  circumstances 
of  his  falling  himself ;  but  if  he  does  fall,  where  are  we  to 
look  to  supply  his  place  ?  only  to  those  who  would  (if  they 
are  in  truth   acting  upon   principle)   plunge  us  into  a 
System  which  would  lead,  for  ought  I  know,  to  all  the 
Horrors  and  Miseries  of   France  :    for   as   to   looking   if 
any  third  Party,  of  strength  and  weight  enough  to  make 
head  against  the  joint  abilities  of  Pitt  and  Fox  with  all 
their  respective   supports   and   appendages,   it  would,  I 
think  in  the  present  state  of  the  country,  be  perfectly 
chimerical.      To   set    against   all   the   bad   part  of   our 
Prospect,  I  see  nothing  but  Toulon,  and  there  is  something 
about  that  which  I  am  a  little  at  a  loss  whether  to  be 
satisfied  with  or  no.    I  have  always  had  a  great  aversion 
to  engaging  in  defence  of  any  particular  System  of  French 
Politicks,  and  Lord  Hood's  declarations  are  directly  and 
absolutely  in  favour  of  the  Constitution  of  1789,  which 
Constitution,  if  we  are  to  trust  to  Burke,  whose  predictions 
have  been  verified  by  Experience,  contained  in  it  the 
Seeds  of  all  the  bitter  fruit  that  followed.  How  do  we  know, 
that  if  all  France,  or  at  least  a  great  majority  of  the 
country,  were  to  declare  themselves  for  that  Constitution, 
and  it  should  in  consequence  be  established  and  sworn  to 
as  it  was  in  1789,  how  do  we  know  that  it  might  not  tend 
like  the  former  one  to  the  confusion  and  escapes  which  the 
ill-contrived  balance  of  that  Constitution  gave  rise  to 
before  ?     I  own  I  am  as  much  puzzled  in  my  own  mind 
whether  to  be  glad  or  sorry  for  the  Capture  of  Toulon, 
circumstanced  as  it  is,  as  ever  I  was  in  my  life  ;    and  I 
am  much  tempted  to  think  that  perhaps  the  best  event  of 


1793]  OUR  HOLD  UPON  TOULON  155 

that  undertaking  for  England  would  be  that  they  should 
do  something  which  might  justify  Lord  Hood  in  destroying 
their  Fleet  and  Arsenal  there,  notwithstanding  the  Treaty. 
You  see,  my  dear  Windham,  that  I  am  taking  a  great 
liberty  with  you,  by  actually  thinking  upon  Paper  to 
you,  for  I  am  now  wiiting  just  as  they  occur  to  me  the 
crude  Ideas  that  suggest  themselves  upon  what  I  have 
read  in  the  Newspapers.  I  should  be  happy  if  these  Ideas 
of  mine  might  draw  from  you  some  better  conceived  and 
better  digested  opinions,  and  lead  you  to  point  out  some 
plan  of  operation  for  us  in  the  ensuing  parliamentary 
Campaign  which  we  might  pursue  with  Credit  from 
the  publick,  with  satisfaction  to  ourselves,  and  with 
advantage  to  the  Cause  we  wish  to  support.* 

Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  to  William  Windham 

Spring  Gardens  :  September  18,  1793 

Since  I  wrote  to  you  a  change  has  happen'd  in  my 
destination  which  will  prevent  Elliot  ^  and  me  from  visiting 
you  as  we  hoped  to  do.  I  have  not  left  myself  an  instant 
to  write  the  many  things  I  have  to  say  and  must  reserve 
it  for  a  post  or  two  hence.  In  the  mean  while,  and  in 
two  words,  I  am  going  to  Toulon.^  My  duty  will  be 
to  conduct  our  civil  and  political  affairs  in  that  Region, 
and  to  improve  to  the  best  advantage  the  unlook'd  for 
good  fortune  which  has  befallen  us  there.  This  is  an 
important  commission  but  a  most  anxious  one.  It  is 
impossible,  however,  to  imagine  one  more  consonant  with 
all  my  wishes,  feelings  and  principles.  Pray  keep  this 
information  secret  till  my  actual  appointment  or  departure. 
Elliot  goes  with  me,  and  I  believe  we  shall  go  in  a  week. 
I  wish  most  devoutly  I  could  receive  my  instructions 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  114.  2  William  Elliot  of  Wells. 

3  Elliot  had  jurst  been  appointed  Civil  Commissioner  at  Toulon. 
On  December  20,  however,  Toulon  ceased  to  be  in  the  possession  of 
the  English.  Elliot  then  went  to  Florence  on  a  special  mission  for  the 
British  Government. 


156  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

from  you.  However,  if  that  must  not  be,  I  am  yet 
highly  gratified  and  delighted  with  the  opportunity  of 
taking  my  post,  and  lending  my  hand,  such  as  it  is,  in  this 
great  Labour  of  the  World.  A  distrust  of  my  powers,  in 
this  very  arduous  service,  alone  diminishes  the  pleasure, 
or  checks  a  little  the  alacrity,  with  which  I  enter  on  this 
duty.  But  something  must  always  be  hazarded.  All 
notions  of  neutrality,  or  even  of  inaction,  have,  I  confess, 
long  since  gone  against  me,  and  although  your  zeal  is  quite 
equal  to  mine,  as  your  exertions  have  been  far  greater, 
yet  I  tremble  and  grieve  most  sincerely  to  think  how 
radically  the  course  of  our  minds  seem  to  differ  in  those 
points  which  lead  to  our  practical  determinations.  I  am 
not  so  much  blinded,  however,  by  ardour,  and  still  less  so 
much  misled  by  confidence  in  my  own  opinions,  as  to 
oppose  them  to  yours  without  real  and  unaffected  dis- 
trust, as  well  as  regret.  I  have  caught  myself  now  and 
then  writing  to  you  in  a  form  of  confidence  in  myself, 
which  might  bear  even  the  appearance  of  censure  on  your 
opinions,  which  would  have  been  most  completely  un- 
warrantable, if  intended.  I  wish,  therefore,  that  you 
should  believe  I  have  no  other  adherence  to  my  own  senti- 
ments against  yours  than  that  which  is  imposed  on  me 
by  the  very  nature  of  an  opinion,  which  is  not  subject  to 
the  will  and  cannot  be  commanded.  That  in  such  a  case 
as  the  present,  I  must  act  on  my  own  is  certain.  I 
cannot  yet  quite  forego  the  hope  that  as  the  Gruel 
thickens,  or,  to  speak  without  metaphor,  as  the  danger  of 
the  world  increases,  you  will  come  to  think  action  the 
first  duty,  and  responsibility  pretty  nearly  a  point  of 
honour.  I  protest  I  think  it  so.  I  cannot  divest  my- 
self of  an  opinion  that,  all  things  considered,  a  distinct; 
separate,  and  unresponsible  corps,  even  supporting 
Government,  is  in  effect  a  formidable  opposition.  It  is 
certainly  a  great  drain  for  that  confidence  of  the  Publick; 
the  whole  of  which  should  be  turn'd  to  the  acting  and 
executive  Power  of  the  country  at  this  crisis.     Pray  do 


1793]         WINDHAM'S  DISSATISFACTION  157 

not  consider  this  as  a  letter  on  this  subject.     I  have  been 
sucked  in,  unprepared.     I  hope  to  write  again  soon.^ 


Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  to  William  Windham 

Spring  Gardens  :  October  2,  1793 
I  am  still  here  and  do  not  expect  to  set  out  for  Toulon 
before  Thursday,  the  loth  inst.  I  promised,  not  to  you 
but  to  myself,  that  I  should  write  you  a  long  letter,  but 
have  had  my  thoughts  as  well  as  the  whole  of  my  time 
forced  another  way ;  and  now  I  flatter  myself  that  I  may 
yet  have  the  pleasure  of  talking  over  with  you  instead  of 
writing  many  things  that  appear  to  me  extremely  in- 
teresting. In  this  hope,  however,  you  may  very  well  tell 
me  that  I  perhaps  reckon  without  my  host,  as  it  depends 
wholly  on  your  doing  what  you  may  think  it  very  un- 
reasonable to  expect,  and  what  at  this  moment  you  have 
possibly  no  thoughts  of.  It  is  nothing  less  than  your 
coming  to  Town.  I  will  tell  you  very  fairly,  as  I  must 
do  very  shortly,  that  I  really  wish  you  extremely  to  come, 
and  that  the  occasion  is,  I  am  persuaded,  sufhciently  grave 
to  deserve  this  sacrifice  of  your  present  comfortable  leisure 
for  a  few  days.  It  has  got  very  much  about  that  j^ou 
are  not  only  dissatisfied  with  some  things  that  have 
passed  during  this  campaign,  but  that  you  have  ex- 
pressed so  indiscriminately  that  opinion,  as  to  evince  some- 
thing like  an  intention  of  following  it  up  in  publick.  The 
greatest  possible  uneasiness  is  entertained  on  that  account 
by  those  who  may,  indeed,  have  a  sufficient  personal 
interest  in  the  question,  but  who  also  think  such  a  measure 
certain  of  producing  the  most  fatal  consequences  to  the 
common  cause.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  private  as  well  as  a 
publick  friend  to  offer  an  opinion,  if  it  is  decided,  on 
matters  of  real  moment.  Therefore,  my  dear  Windham; 
excuse  me  ;  consider  me  as  speaking  still  as  one  linked 
in  publick  as  well  as  private  friendship  with  you,  and  not 

1  Add.  MSS.  378521.218. 


158  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

as  already  entered  on  my  diplomatick  functions,  if  I  say 
that  I  most  deliberately  and  entirely  agree  with  them  in 
thinking  that  what  they  apprehend  would  be  fatal  to 
the  publick  cause  and  interests.  In  one  opinion  you  will 
I  am  sure  agree  with  me,  as  soon  as  it  is  stated,  viz. 
that  not  only  a  publick  and  formal  opposition  in  Parlia- 
ment on  these  grounds,  but  that  any  intimation  of  a 
strong  opinion  from  you  on  that  subject,  is  a  7neasure,  and 
cannot  be  classed  as  the  casual  conversation  of  indifferent 
men.  If  it  is  a  measure,  it  should  be  taken  on  deliberation, 
and  as  a  fair  decision  of  your  judgment.  For  this  reason 
it  is  that  I  wish  you  to  come  to  Town — to  enquire  where 
your  information  may  be  authentick,  and  to  deliberate 
with  those  with  whom  you  are  accustomed  to  hold 
counsel  what  your  conduct  should  be,  on  any  result  of 
your  enquiries.  Dundas  knows  that  I  meant  to  write 
this  letter  but  he  does  not  know  what  I  say  to  you.  I 
mention  this  only  that  I  may  not  seem  even  to  myself  to 
avail  myself  of  your  kindness  and  of  our  friendship  for 
the  purposes  of  others,  without  telling  you  distinctly  all 
circumstances.  In  truth,  I  feel  that  this  question  is  not 
only  so  very  important  for  the  Publick,  but  so  full  of 
delicacys  with  regard  to  yourself  that  I  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  pressing  you  to  come.  If  you  do  come,  I  must 
hope  on  a  thousand  other  grounds  that  it  may  be  before 
I  lose  this  last  opportunity  of  embracing  you,  and  carrying 
with  me  your  advice  and  kind  wishes.^ 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe 

Felbrigg  :  October  5,  1793 
You  show  a  sad  pusillanimity  in  wishing  to  coax  the 
persons  you  mention  ;  and  seem  yourself  too  much 
inclined  to  give  in  to  their  opinions.  In  foreign  affairs  I 
see  nothing  to  make  one  despond  ;  and  against  the  folly 
and  wickedness  of  people  here  one  has  nothing  to  do  but 

»  Add.  MSS.  37852  f.  220. 


1793]  AN  ENEMY  TO  JACOBINISM  159 

to  make  stout  light.  What  can  make  your  Mr.  Walhs  (?) 
talk  any  language  which  you  can  construe  as  demo- 
cratical  ?  if  he  really  does  do  so,  I  shall  think  less  favour- 
able of  his  understanding.  Never  surely  was  a  time  when 
the  French  system  has  less  to  recommend  it,  and,  on  the 
contrary,  showed  more  how  monstrous  it  was  in  all  its 
parts  ;  and  as  to  those  who,  condemning  that  system, 
do  yet  talk  against  the  war,  they  do  really  manifest  a 
degree  of  folly,  bordering  upon  the  weakness  of  infancy. 
Be  of  good  heart  and  cheer.  Resist  open  attacks,  and 
don't  be  led  away  by  their  cant. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  more  assistance  than  I  shall  be 
able  to  do  in  your  subscription  ;  but  I  will  do  all  I  can. 
My  hostility  to  Jacobinism  and  all  its  works,  weak  or 
wicked,  is  more  steady  and  strong  than  ever.  If  Pitt 
is  the  man  by  whom  this  must  be  opposed,  Pitt  is  the 
man  whom  I  shall  stand  by.  If  I  do  not  act  with  them 
in  office,  it  is  only  because  I  think  I  can  be  of  more  use 
as  I  am.  Sir  Gilbert's  acceptance  of  the  appointment 
offered  him  has  my  perfect  concurrence.  Farewell !  I 
will  write  when  I  have  anything  that  I  think  you 
will  like  to  hear.  By  the  way,  your  friend  and  admirer, 
Mr.  Malone,^  is  going  somewhere  into  your  neighbourhood, 
and  would  be  very  glad,  I  am  persuaded,  of  any  en- 
couragement to  make  you  a  visit.  Will  you  authorize 
me  to  give  him  such,  or,  what  would  be  still  more 
gracious,  write  him  a  line  yourself  ?  I  wish  I  were  able 
to  accompany  him.^ 

William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 

Hollwood  :  October  13,  1793 
I  received  yesterday  the  favor  of  your  obliging  Letter, 
enclosing  several  Papers  from  Mr.  Hippisley,  the  Sub- 
stance of  which  I  had  before  learnt  in  some  Measure,  but 

1  Edmund  Malone  (1741-1812),  a  member  of  the  Club  and  one  of 
the  Johnson  circle  ;  editor  of  the  works  of  Shakespeare  and  Dryden. 

2  The  Crewe  Papers  :  Windham  Section,  p.  15  ("Miscellanies"  of  the 
Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 


i6o  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [i793 

less  fully  from  the  Lord  Chancellor.  Allow  me  to  return 
you  my  thanks  for  the  Communication,  and  at  the  same 
time, to  beg  your  Permission  to  retain  the  Papers  for  a 
few  days,  in  order  to  examine  them  more  at  Leisure  than 
I  have  yet  been  able  to  do.  I  partake  thoroughly  in 
your  Sentiments  both  with  respect  to  Toulon,  and  to 
the  Person  with  whom  the  Political  Concerns  arising  out 
of  the  Possession  of  that  Place  are  entrusted. 

This  Event  seems  to  me  to  furnish  a  better  opening  than 
could  have  presented  itself  in  any  other  Way  for  facilitat- 
ing the  Restoration  of  regular  Government  in  France, 
and    for    terminating    the    War    satisfactorily,    perhaps 
speedily.     In  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot's  hands,  I  am  sure  every 
Advantage  will  be  improved  to  the  utmost.     I  need  not 
say  how  happy  I  should  have  been  if  your  Concurrence 
of  Opinion  on  the  great  Questions  now  depending,  had 
led  you  also  to  take  an  active  share  in  conducting  the 
affairs  of  Government.     At  least,  however,  I  have  the 
Satisfaction  of  knowing  from  Experience  how  much  the 
Public   may   benefit   by   your   Exertions   even   in   your 
present  Situation.     The  Check  before  Dunkirk  is  certainly 
much  to  be  regretted.     But  unless  any  Impression  should 
be  produced  by  it  at  home  to  impede  the  Vigor  of  future 
Operations,  the  Mischief  will,  I  trust,  be  little  felt  in  the 
General  Scale  of  the  War.     We  expect  in  a  few  Days 
important  Accounts  from  Maubeuge.^     Success  in  that 
Quarter  would  in  a  great  Measure  relieve  us  from  any 
further  Anxiety  on   the  Side  of  the  Netherlands,  and 
lead  to  further  vigorous  Measures,  either  before  the  End 
of  this    Campaign  or  very  early  in  the  next.      I  have 
enquired   about  the  Paper  transmitted  from  Norwich,^ 

^  Jourdan  attacked  the  Prince  of  Coburg  on  October  i  5  and  compelled 
him  to  raise  the  siege  of  Maubeuge. 

2  "  You  have  received  from  Norwich  probably  an  account  of  a  seditious 
paper,  which  made  its  appearance  immediately  on  the  miscarriage 
at  Dunkirk,  but  which  drooped  and  died  away  on  the  news  of  the 
success  of  Toulon  :  so  little  true  is  it  that  the  progress  of  arms  has  no 
influence  on  that  of  opinions." — Windham  to  Pitt,  October  11,  1793 
(Add.  MSS;  37844  f,  II). 


1793]      MR.  HIPPISLEY'S  JUSTIFICATION  i6i 

which   I   understand   was   immediately  referred   to   the 
Attorney  General.^ 


William  Windham  to  Lord  Grenville 

Fclbrigg  :  October  22;  1793 

It  would  have  been  better  that  the  papers  inclosed 
with  this  had  been  sent  to  your  Lordship  in  the  first 
instance ;  as  I  fear  that  the  explanation,  which  Mr. 
Hippisley  seems  to  look  for  from  me,  will  hardly  com- 
pensate for  the  delay  of  transmitting  them  through  my 
hands. 

Mr.  Hippisley,  in  his  letters  to  me,  appears  very 
anxious,  lest  any  wrong  construction  should  be  put  upon 
his  conduct  :  or  lest  the  pains  which  he  has  taken, — 
certainly  from  the  best  motives,  and  seemingly  with 
the  best  effect, — should  be  deemed  unseasonable  and 
officious.  He  has  sent  me  numerous  documents  showing 
both  his  reasons  for  acting,  and  the  probable  share,  he 
has  had,  in  exciting  and  promoting,  those  dispositions  to- 
wards this  country,  which  at  present  prevail  in  the  Court 
of  Rome.  But  I  cannot  think  it  necessary  to  trouble 
your  Lordship  with  any  of  these  vouchers  for  the  pur- 
pose of  Mr.  Hippisley 's  justification.  His  interference; 
as  far  as  it  went,  could  not  have  been  otherwise  than 
advantageous  : — His  application,  I  mean,  for  the  supply 
of  our  fleet  with  grain  :  and  it  will  not  be  thought  less 
so,  because  persons  jealous  of  their  own  consequence, 
and  of  interests  probably  more  substantial,  seem  to 
think  it  matter  of  complaint,  that  the  service  was  per- 
formed too  soon,  and  was  not  retarded  in  order  that  it 
might  pass  through  their  hands.  Mr.  Bartram's  letter 
contains  a  reprimand,  which  might  have  produced  a 
more  impatient  reply  than  that  which  Mr.  Hippisley 
has  given  to  it. 

In  a  letter  lately  to  Mr.  Pitt  on  the  same  subject  I  could 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844!.  13. 


i62  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

not  forbear  expressing  my  hopes,  that  it  might  be  found 
consistent  with  the  interests  of  this  country  to  join  in  the 
sentiments  thus  manifested  by  the  Court  of  Rome  ;  nor 
to  point  out  Mr.  Hippisley  as  a  man  proper  in  various 
respects,  to  serve  as  a  vehicle  for  any  communication 
that  might  be  intended,  and  who  might  be  employed 
advantageously  for  that  purpose.^ 

Edmund  Malone  to  William  Windham 

London  :  October  30,  1793 

I  am  delighted  to  find  you,  what  I  had  no  doubt  you 
would  be,  so  warm  and  zealous  on  the  subject  of  the  war  ; 
the  most  necessary  and  honourable  that  ever  was  under- 
taken. I  would  not  only  part  with  my  coat,  but  strip 
myself  to  my  skin,  to  carry  it  on.  The  paltry  attempt  to 
rouse  all  those  who  are  solely  bent  on  gain  to  impede  its 
progress,  will  I  hope  be  the  daily  topick  from  the  moment 
parliament  meets.  I  see  it  is  prorogued  to  the  loth  of 
December. 

There  have  been  some  apprehensions  these  two  days 
past  for  the  fate  of  Ostend.  Some  of  the  troops  there 
were  to  have  gone  to  the  West  Indies  ;  but  Sir  Charles 
Grey  2  is  by  this  time  at  Ostend  not  to  take  away  their 
troops,  but  to  head  them  and  to  defend  the  place.  The 
West  India  expedition  will  not  be  ready  these  ten  days. 
Nothing  had  arrived  last  night  from  Ostend  ;  but  a 
messenger  is  every  hour  expected.  I  will  not,  therefore, 
send  this  away,  as  perhaps  I  may  hear  some  particulars 
in  the  course  of  the  day — ' '  Each  hour  is  now,  the  father, 
not  of  some  stratagem,"  but  of  some  atrocity  greater 
than  the  former.     Does  the  history  of  any  age  or  nation 

1  Add.  MSS.  37846  f.  I. 

2  Sir  Charles  Grey  ( 1 729-1 807),  created  Baron  1 801,  and  Earl  1806.  In 
1 793  he  and  J  ervis  were  about  to  sail  to  endeavour  to  conquer  the  revolted 
French  Indies.  Before  the  expedition  started,  however,  the  Duke  of 
York  had  retired  from  before  Dunkirk,  and  Nieuport  was  in  danger. 
Grey  was  at  once  despatched  with  a  small  relief  force. 


Sir  ynshiiit  R^yfiout\.  pinxt. 


EDMUND    MALONE 


1793]  AN  UNFORTUNATE  QUEEN  163 

furnish  us  with  anything  half  so  calamitous  as  the  last 
moments  of  the  unfortunate  Queen  of  France.  Even  the 
vilest  and  the  most  criminal  of  the  human  race  have  in 
their  last  moments  some  person  near  them  to  hear  their 
last  wishes  and  to  receive  their  last  pledges  ;  she  had 
not  near  her  one  mortal  that  she  could  trust  ;  not  a 
servant  of  her  own  choice  ;  not  a  single  bosom  on  which 
she  could  drop  a  tear,  or  from  which  she  could  receive  the 
smallest  consolation  ;  not  one  whom  she  could  charge 
with  a  lock  of  her  hair  or  any  the  slightest  memorial  for 
that  faithful  sister-in-law,  who  had  so  long  shared  her 
sufferings,  except  the  infamous  pleader,  whom  in  mocker}^ 
they  had  assigned  to  her  as  her  defender,  and  who  by  his 
own  confession  examined  her  only  to  betray  her.  Surely 
Heaven  will  presently  "  put  a  whip  into  every  honest  hand 
to  lash  these  villains  naked  through  the  world."  You 
know,  I  suppose,  that  the  faithful  Edgeworth  ^  was  not 
allowed  to  come  near  her  ;  and  to  mortify  and  disgrace 
her,  they  placed  by  her  a  constitutional  priest,  with  whom 
she  could  have  no  communication.  Like  Charles  in  the 
same  situation,  all  that  was  left  to  her  to  say  was,  "  You 
may  pray  for  me  if  you  please,  but  you  shall  not  pray 
with  me."  They  have  set  a  price  on  Edgeworth 's 
head. 

A  minute  fact  has  lately  come  to  my  knowledge,  that 
may  possibly  be  of  consequence,  if  attended  to.  A  very 
furious  Jacobin,  who  was  an  ambassador  from  a  wild 
Club  at  Derby  to  the  National  Convention,  but  within 
these  six  months  has  returned  to  England,  has  by  some 
means  or  other,  perhaps  by  the  recommendation  or  some 

oblique  interference  of  Lord  L e,  got  a  commission  in 

a  new  Scotch  Regiment,  and  is  either  actually  sailed  to 
London,  or  under  orders  for  it.  His  name,  I  am  told,  is 
Tweadle.  Now  as  he  has  held  this  commission  for  sub- 
sistance,  and  has  no  doubt  all  his  former  propensities; 
would  it  not  be  worth  while  to  give  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  some 

^  The  Abbe  Edgeworth. 


i64  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

intimation  with  respect  to  him,  that  he  may  at  least 
watch  his  motions  ? 

Thus  far  I  had  written  yesterday,  and  afterwards 
wandered  out  with  the  hope  of  picking  up  some  in- 
telhgence  for  you  ;  but  there  was  not  any  to  be  had  for 
love  or  money.  All  the  good  I  did  was  to  pick  up  Sir 
William  Scott  ^  at  the  Commons  and  to  engage  him  to  dine 
with  me  to-day.  He  may  perhaps  bring  some  news  with 
him  and  therefore  I  will  keep  my  letter  unsealed.  It 
depends  entirely  on  the  Wind,  which  has  been  for  some 
days  westerly,  and  detained  the  packets. 

You  will  receive  to-morrow  the  Manifesto  of  last  night. 
I  hoped  it  would  have  been  more  strong  and  have  con- 
tained mere  invective.  I  wanted  "  words  that  burn." — 
But  perhaps  this  would  have  been  less  royal. — Nieuport 
is  supposed  to  be  safe  by  the  adjoining  country  being 
two  feet  under  water.  Lady  Lucan's  news  yesterday, 
which  she  said  she  derived  from  a  foreign  letter,  was,  that 
Prince  Saxe-Cobourg  was  deceived  by  false  intelligence 
that  the  French  had  turned  his  Army,  which  occasioned 
him  to  retreat  when  he  was  really  victorious,  as  appears 
by  the  great  number  of  Cannon  which  he  took. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Instead  of  Sir  W.  Scott,  I  have  just  received  an  excuse 
from  him,  so  I  may  now  conclude.  Boswell  and  Courteney 
were  to  have  met  him  ;  and  I  hoped  with  the  authority  of 
the  King's  Advocate  to  have  kept  the  Citizen  in  good 
order.  However,  we  must  do  as  well  as  we  can.  It  is 
astonishing  that  a  man  in  no  other  respect  hard-hearted, 
should  still  adhere  to  these  cut-throats  :  he  does,  however, 
most  lamentably,  as  far  as  decency  will  permit .^ 

1  Sir  William  Scott  (1745-1836),  lawyer;  won  high  distinction  as 
ecclesiastical  and  Admiralty  Judge;   created  Baron  Stowell  1821.- 

2  Add.  MSS.  37854  f.  127. 


1793]  A  FRESH  DEFEAT  165 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

October  1793 

I  do  not  exactly  know,  though  I  think  I  can  partly 
guess,  in  what  manner  the  present  situation  of  things 
appears  to  you.  To  me  it  is  the  subject  of  the  most 
serious  anxiety.  I  went  to  Brighthelmstone,  thinking 
to  pass  from  thence  to  Portsmouth,  and  on  through 
Winchester,  home.  But  the  news  of  the  fresh  defeat  in 
the  Netherlands  brought  me  hither.  Yesterday  a  sort  of 
Message  came  from  Macbride,^  announcing,  that  this 
defeat  had  been  followed,  on  the  part  of  the  Allies,  with 
a  great  and  decisive  Victory.  I  have  seen  the  Lieutenant 
dispatched  by  Macbride  with  this  News,  which  has  many 
particulars  inducing  one  to  believe  that  it  is  founded. 
But  as  the  account  particularizes  neither  time  nor  place, 
I  am  obliged,  however  reluctantly,  to  suspend  my  entire 
reliance  on  its  truth.     This  day  will  clear  up  the  matter. 

I  trust,  that  the  good  Event  of  this  affair  will  enable  us, 
(though  such  an  event  rarely  disposes  us)  to  a  calm  and 
unprejudiced  review  of  the  whole  plan  of  the  War — ^which 
in  my  opinion  has  been  totally  wrong — and  that  the  bad 
military  plan  has  arisen  from  the  false  political  principles 
on  which  it  is  formed.  If  we  have  succeeded,  I  must 
consider  it  as  a  great  escape.  No  Victory,  however  great, 
can  reconcile  my  Mind  to  this  Business  of  Maubeuge  ; 
no  more  than  it  could  to  the  affair  of  Dunkirk,  where, 
indeed.  Victory  was  in  a  manner  impossible.  I  feel 
no  great  pleasure  in  the  Expedition  against  Martinico — if 
that  should  be,  as  I  greatly  fear  it  is,  finally  resolved 
upon.  All  these,  and  many  more  considerations,  give 
me,  at  times,  more  uneasiness  than  I  am  able  to  express. 
But  the  fault  is  not  only  in  our  ministry,  the  whole 
Body  of  the  Alliance  is  concerned  in  it.  Things  can 
never  be  brought  to  a  decision,  in  the  way  they  proceed 

^  Rear-Admiral    John    MacBride    (died    1800),   at  this  time    com- 
manding a  frigate  squadron  oH  Brest. 


i66  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

in;  by  any  Victory  or  Victories.  However,  I  wish  you 
to  consider  these  hints  of  mine  as  for  your  own  breast ; 
into  which  I  wish  more  fully  to  unbosom  mine — praying 
to  God,  that  no  hasty  word  from  you  or  me,  may  give 
an  advantage  to  the  Jacobin  Enemy  here.  If  we  criticize 
let  us  criticize  to  amend,  to  help,  to  supply — even  possibly 
to  encourage.  But  let  us  strengthen  the  principles  we 
support,  and  give  no  advantage  to  those  who  find  fault 
with  conduct  because  they  are  utterly  irreconcilable  to 
principles.  Our  principles  are  antijacobin.  We  cannot 
be  neuter.  We  are  on  the  stage  :  and  cannot  occasionally 
jump  into  the  Pitt  or  Boxes  to  make  observations  on  our 
brother  actors.  Such  are  there,  at  home  or  abroad, 
who  abhor  Jacobinism  as  we  do,  and  who  act  against  it, 
bona  fide,  though  with  a  thousand  Errours.  I  have 
written  something  to  the  Ministers,  and  I  have  twice  seen 
them,  and  spoken  my  sentiments  very  freely  and  very 
fully.  I  think  we  do  not  disagree  in  any  principle  nor 
in  any  Measure  ;  but  in  the  time,  the  order  in  which 
Measures  are  to  be  taken  and  pursued,  to  be  sure  we  differ 
— and  this  I  take  to  be  a  very  important  part  of  the 
consideration.  Here  I  am  without  any  assistance,  out 
of  my  own  walls,  to  correct  or  to  advise  me,  or  to  co- 
operate with  me.  In  the  world,  as  well  as  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  no  motion  is  received,  that  is  not  seconded.  I 
do  most  earnestly  wish  to  see  you.  Clouds  lower  all  over 
the  Horison,  which  alarm,  but  do  not  dispirit  me,  if  you 
keep  up  your  Vigour.  Heu  quianam  tanti  cinxerunt 
aethera  nimbi !— quidvc  pater  Neptune  paras  ? 

Do  not  you  think  the  new  act  of  Regicide  the  smallest 
part  of  the  wickedness  ?  Oh  God  !  the  Charge  !  and  the 
last  article  particularly.  All  this  is  but  the  unfolding  of 
the  Germ  of  Jacobinism.  For  God's  sake  come  to  Town. 
Again  and  again  I  want  consolation  and  assistance.  You 
cannot  withdraw  j^ourself  from  the  world,  now  in  the 
Vigour  of  your  Age  and  faculties,  without  a  Crime. 

I  hear  nothing  to  confirm  the  News.     But  there  have 


1793]  WINDHAM'S  ANXIETY  167 

been  three  actions  at  La  Vendee.  The  Royalists  failed 
in  one,  Noirmoutier — but  succeeded  in  three  others — all 
very  important,^ 

William  Windham  to  Edmund  Burke 

Felhrigg  :  November  1,  1793 

The  desire  of  obeying  your  summons  might  be  motive 
sufficient  to  carry  me  to  town,  without  allowing  the  reason 
which  you  assign,  if  I  could  be  sure  that  the  meeting  of 
parliament  would  be  delayed  long  enough  to  admit  of  my 
coming  back  again.  Till  it  shall  be  determined  that 
parliament  is  not  to  meet  till  after  Christmas,  I  could  wish 
to  defer  a  little,  mygoing  to  London,  that  I  may  not  begin 
my  winter  residence  sooner  than  is  necessary.  To  go  to 
town  from  this  distance,  without  a  long  period  before  one, 
must  be  going  for  good. 

I  fear  that  good  in  that  sense,  is  the  only  good  which 
would  attend  my  going  at  present.  I  have  no  counsels  to 
offer  but  what  I  must  learn  from  you  ;  nor  any  means  of 
enforcing  them,  but  what  they  must  have  already  from 
your  authority.  Authority,  probably,  of  any  sort,  can 
now  do  but  little.  What  remains  of  the  campaign;  and  of 
the  fate  of  the  armies,  must  be  determined  probably  by 
the  events,  for  the  result  of  which  I  am  waiting  with 
the  most  anxious  expectation.  In  a  letter  which  I  had 
from  Brussels  of  the  21st,  great  Anxiety  was  expressed 
for  the  army  of  the  Prince  of  Coburgh  ;  and,  what 
was  worse,  the  same  was  said  to  be  felt  in  the  army 
itself. 

I  have  not  the  least  doubt  of  what  is  right  to  be  done 
by  us  ;  namely,  to  maintain  the  war,  in  and  out  of  parlia- 
ment, by  every  possible  means :  But  I  tremble  to  think; 
should  disasters  increase,  how  long  this  may  be  in  our 
power.     Toulon  and  Weissenburg,^  if  they  keep  to  their 

1  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  25. 

2  Weissenburg  was  captured  by  General  Wurmser,  October  15, 
1793- 


i68  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

mark,  will,  it  may  be  hoped,  preserve  the  balance  for  this 
year. 

The  murder  of  the  queen  of  France  is  an  event  that 
appears  more  shocking  (I  know  not  certainly  for  what 
reason)  than  even  that  of  the  king.  The  length  of  her 
sufferings,  though  urged  commonly  with  a  contrary  view, 
makes  one  less  endure  that  they  should  terminate  at 
last  in  death.  One  hoped  for  some  period  in  reserve,  that 
might  have  softened  the  memory  of  her  past  woes,  and 
brought  some  retribution  of  happiness  in  this  life, — a 
little  longer  respite,  and  relief,  one  hoped,  might  have 
reached  her.  All  is  now  extinct  !  An  act  of  such  savage 
and  unrelenting  cruelty, — of  such  black  and  unprovoked 
guilt, — ^I  suppose  is  hardly  to  be  paralleled  ;  as  a  case  can 
hardly  be  found  of  life  ended  in  circumstances  so  dreadful, 
so  destitute  of  all  external  support,  so  beset  with  every 
thing  to  embitter  and  sharpen  the  last  agony.  All  that 
the  imagination  pictures  of  death  had  been  hers  for  long 
past ; — seclusion,  silence,  solitude,  ignorance  of  all  that 
was  passing,  separation  from  all  the  visible  world.  Her 
pursuers  seem,  beforehand,  to  have  plunged  her  into  the 
tomb,  that  its  horrors  might  have  time  to  sink  into  her 
mind, — might  pervade  and  occupy  every  region  of  the 
soul.  It  was  wonderful  how  her  courage  was  able  to 
sustain  so  long  a  conflict ;  or  how,  in  fact,  she  contrived 
to  preserve  her  senses.  It  is  a  strong  proof  of  the  vigour 
of  her  mind,  and  a  presumption  highly  favourable  to  the 
virtuousness  of  her  character.  She  seems  to  have  retained 
her  dignity  and  firmness  to  the  last ;  to  have  been  wanting 
in  nothing  that  the  occasion  required  ;  to  have  sustained, 
throughout,  the  part  she  was  to  act,  worthily  of  herself, 
and  of  those  whom  she  represented.  The  assertors  of 
monarchy  as  opposed  to  modern  doctrines,  need  wish 
for  nothing  better,  than  such  a  contrast  as  is  formed  by  the 
conduct  of  the  king  and  queen,  compared  with  that  of 
their  destroyers. 

In  this  solitary  place,  I  have  little  communication  with 


1793]  WAR  IMPERATIVE  169 

the  world,  except  occasionally  by  letters,  and  know  but 
little,  therefore,  of  the  language  generally  talked.  In 
fact,  in  matters  of  this  sort,  people  seldom  talk  any 
language  but  what  they  are  taught ;  and,  therefore,  till 
they  assemble  in  town,  or  parliament  sets  them  a-going, 
they  have  no  very  decided  opinions.  To  me  the  necessity 
for  the  war  seems  so  impossible  not  to  be  seen  by  the 
commonest  understanding,  the  motives  for  persevering 
in  it  to  be  so  powerful,  that  I  cannot  but  think  it  must  be 
the  fault  of  those  who  should  direct  the  public  mind,  if 
the  clamours  against  the  war  gain  any  great  ground.  The 
artifice  of  those  who  wish  to  conceal  and  give  effect  to 
their  wishes  in  favour  of  the  French  system,  under  a 
pretended  horror  of  war,  is  surely  so  easily  seen  through, 
that  it  can  never  produce  much  effect.  Our  first  debates 
in  parliament  must  be  directed,  I  think,  to  strip  the  mask 
from  this  miserable  hypocrisy  ; — it  surely  cannot  be  a 
difficult  task. 

I  shall,  at  all  events,  come  to  town  before  Christmas. 
If  parliament  does  not  meet,  I  shall  be  desirous  of  coming 
very  speedily.-^ 


William  Windham  to  Edmund  Burke 

Fdbrigg :  November  7,  1793 
You  will  have  received,  before  this,  my  answer  to  your 
letter,  and  find  that  I  am  ready  to  come  whenever  my 
presence  shall  be  necessary  or  useful.  Though  you  give 
me,  for  the  present,  a  dispensation,  I  am  half  inclined  not 
to  make  use  of  it,  but  to  yield  to  the  wish  of  being  for  a 
while  near  the  centre  of  counsel  and  intelligence.  Your 
letter  is  written  in  a  tone  of  dejection  that  makes  me 
apprehend  something  worse  than  has  yet  reached  me,  or 
suspect  that  I  have  seen  our  situation  more  favourably 
than  I  ought.  The  worst  news  is  undoubtedly  from  La 
Vendee;  yet  unless  you  have  further  accounts,  confirming 

^  Burke,  "  Correspondence,"  iv.  179. 


170  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

those  of  the  convention,  I  cannot  abandon  my  hopes 
upon  the  strength  merely  of  what  they  say.  Besides  the 
allowance  to  be  made  for  exaggeration,  and  often  for  total 
fabrication,  the  war  of  La  Vendee  does  not  seem  to  be  of 
a  sort  which  temporary  ill  success  will  eradicate.  One 
may  hope  that  the  whole  of  that  country  is  so  thoroughly 
impregnated  with  hatred  and  horror  of  the  present  system, 
for  which  new  reasons,  too,  are  arising  every  day,  that 
they  never  can  do  more  than  stop  its  effects  for  the 
moment,  and  that  the  first  opportunity  will  call  them 
out  again  with  their  original  vigour. 

In  all  other  quarters  our  affairs  seem  to  be  going  on 
with  reasonable  success.  No  fears,  I  hope,  are  enter- 
tained, at  least,  no  news  or  special  ones,  of  our  being 
forced  from  our  hold  on  Toulon.  The  progress  of  the 
northern  armies  must,  of  necessity,  be  slow ;  they  are 
thus  riving  the  block  at  the  knotty  end.  But  I  cannot 
but  hope  that  at  the  southern  extremity  the  work  will 
go  on  quicker  and  that  a  rent  may  be  made  by  our  opera- 
tions that  will  reach  far  into  France. 

What  is  your  opinion  of  the  declaration  ?  ^  I  think  in 
one  passage,  they  are  yielding  too  much  to  the  adversary  ; 
and  by  seeming  to  give  up  part  of  the  question,  making 
the  defence  of  the  remainder  more  difficult.  Why  is  all 
right  of  interference  in  the  affairs  of  another  country,  even 
without  the  plea  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  that  country, 
to  be  universally  given  up  ?  The  more  I  have  thought 
upon  that  opinion,  the  more  satisfied  I  have  been,  that  it 
is  a  mere  arbitrary  assumption  wholly  unsupported  by 
anything  in  reason  and  nature,  and  in  direct  repugnance 
to  everything  which  the  maintainers  of  that  doctrine 
would  be  compelled,  and  even  ready,  to  allow.  In  other 
respects  it  seems  to  be  judicious,  and  it  is  certainly  well 
drawn,  and  I  should  hope  will  produce  the  best  effects  ; 

^  The  Declaration  issued  by  the  British  Government,  October  29, 
^793>  in  which  the  causes  and  objects  of  the  war  were  set  forth,  as 
well  as  the  circumstances  which  would  enable  the  King  to  end  it. 


1793]        THE  WEST  INDIA  EXPEDITION  171 

particularly  if,  as  I  see  in  the  papers  just  received,  the 
Austrians  have  taken  possession  of  Alsace  in  the  name  of 
Louis  XVII. 

The  poor  departed  queen  !  How  cheering  would  such 
intelligence  have  been  to  her  !  How  much  does  one  wish 
that  she  might  have  lived  to  see  herself  and  her  son 
restored  in  part  to  their  former  situation ;  or  rescued, 
at  least,  from  the  fangs  of  these  hell-hounds  !  How  pain- 
ful is  the  reflection,  that  whatever  good  may  now  befal, 
she  no  longer  remains  to  enjoy  it  ! 

From  the  delay  occasioned  at  Ostend,  the  West  India 
expedition  is,  I  suppose,  laid  aside.  The  opinion  which 
you  seem  to  have  of  it,  has  taught  me  not  to  regret  its 
loss.  The  fever,  too,  that  rages  so  dreadfully  in  some 
of  the  islands,  might  itself  have  been  a  reason,  I  should 
conceive,  for  not  persisting  in  it. 

Mrs.  Burke,  I  hope,  and  all  your  family  are  well.  Let 
me  beg  you  to  present  my  best  respects. 

[P.S.]     The  system  of  atheism  will  now,  I  think,  not  y- 

be   denied.     What  say  the  religious  dissenters  to  this  ?  ' 

The  worthy  bishop  who  believes  that  the  God  of  nature 
and  liberty  needs  no  intermediary ,  will  perhaps  reconcile 
them.  They  are  perfectly  satisfied  that  there  should  be 
no  religion,  provided  there  is  no  establishment.^ 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe 

Felhrigg  :  November  7,  1793 
I  have  suffered  my  debt  to  you  to  rise  to  such  an 
amount  that  I  run  the  risk  of  being  driven  to  despair; 
and  abandoning  all  thoughts  of  paying  it.  Let  me  make 
an  effort  in  time,  and  offer  a  small  instalment,  though  in 
order  to  do  that  I  must  defraud  another,  and  leave 
unwritten  a  letter  which  I  ought  to  send  abroad.  You 
have  a  claim  not  from  me  only,  to  whom  you  have  done 
so  kindly,  but  from  all  lovers  of  good  to  be  hailed  and 

^  Burke,  "  Correspondence,"  iv.  189. 


172  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

celebrated,  and  encouraged  in  the  good  work  which 
you  pursue  so  zealously.  Don't  be  discouraged  or  dis- 
countenanced by  any  rebuffs.  I  don't  know  where  must 
be  either  the  hearts  or  the  heads  of  those  who  can  refuse 
to  assist  in  it  if  they  possess  the  means,  much  less  who  can 
attempt  to  find  fault  with  it.  I  have  another  subscription 
in  reserve,  I  formerly  subscribed  25^.,  whenever  it  shall 
be  most  wanted.  In  the  mean  time  I  cannot  say  that  I 
have  contributed  to  you  quite  all  the  pains  I  might ;  but 
I  will  from  this  time,  and  meant  this  very  post  to  have 
written  to  Dr.  Burney.  I  am  glad  that  the  pen  of  Madame 
Abry,i  or  whatever  the  name  is,  is  going  to  be  exerted 
in  the  cause. 

There  can  be  no  necessity  for  stimulating  your  rage 
against  the  present  system  and  its  abettors.  Its  horrors 
are  now  of  so  deep  a  dye,  have  a  cast  of  character  so  truly 
diabolical,  that  there  is  an  end  of  all  reserve  and  manage- 
ment :  and  all  who  support  in  any  degree  that  system,  are 
persons  from  whom  I  am  separated  by  the  widest  gulph 
that  can  separate  men  on  publick  affairs. 

To  talk  of  condemning  this  system,  and  not  supporting 
the  war,  is  in  those  who  are  sincere  in  that  language  such 
extreme  weakness,  in  my  opinion,  as  can  only  be  equalled 
by  the  wickedness  of  those  who  talk  about  it  without 
being  sincere.  The  fact  is,  that  the  greater  part  of  those 
who  lead  on  that  side  either  care  not  what  becomes  of  the 
world,  so  they  can  answer  their  purposes  of  ambition  or 
enmity,  or  else  they  do  really  love  this  system,  for  that 
which  to  most  men  renders  it  an  object  of  horror  and 
detestation.  All  who  are  not  of  either  of  these  descrip- 
tions are,  in  my  idea,  the  most  deplorable  dupes  that 
ever  belonged  to  that  fraternity.  I  cannot  conceive  any 
opinion  so  utterly  devoid  of  common  sense  and  likelihood, 
as  that,  if  we  were  to  withdraw  from  the  present  war, 
supposing  it  possible  in  common  honour  and  honesty 
that  we  could  do  so,  the  whole  of  the  French  system 

^  Madame  D'Arblay  (Fanny  Burney). 


1793]  FEARS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  173 

would  not  pour  into  this  system,  as  certainly  as  the  sea 
would  into  Holland,  upon  the  removal  of  any  of  their 
main  dykes.  What  at  least  is  to  be  our  security  against 
this,  if  the  French  were  to  chuse  to  fraternize  ;  and  who 
is  to  be  our  security  that  they  will  not  chuse  it  ?  If 
they  are  this  irresistible  people  that  some  chuse  to  describe, 
and  derive  such  new  powers  from  their  present  condition, 
why  may  not  part  of  this  prseternatural  vigour  be  carried 
into  their  external  operations,  and  make  them  equally 
formidable  in  offence  as  they  are  in  defence  ?  In  fact, 
with  the  aid  of  their  principles  they  would  be  infinitely 
more  so  ;  in  so  great  a  degree  that  the  moment  they  should 
be  let  loose  to  act  exclusively  against  us,  I  should  be  one 
of  those  to  distrust  altogether  our  powers  of  resistance.  I 
must  not  go  on,  however,  on  this  subject,  which  is  end- 
less :  we  shall  have  enough  of  it  when  Parliament  meets. 
In  the  meanwhile,  let  me  thank  you  for  your  letters, 
exhort  you  to  remain  steady  in  the  faith,  extol  you  for 
your  splendid  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  poor  priests,  and 
beg  you  to  believe  me,  as  always. 

Your  most  faithful  and  obedient, 

W.  W. 
I  am  waiting  with  great  impatience  for  the 
papers.  Things  in  Flanders  seem  to  have  got  round 
again  ;  and  Weissenburg  opens  the  prospect,  I  hope, 
to  great  consequences.  For  Toulon,  too,  I  hope  no  fears 
need  be  entertained.  The  Queen,  the  fate  of  the  poor 
Queen,  for  whom  now  I  begin  to  justify  all  Mr.  Burke's 
enthusiasm,  saddens  even  our  prospects  of  success,  so 
much  I  wish  that  she  might  have  lived  to  enjoy  them.'^ 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

[Circa :  November  7—14,  1793] 
I  received  your  second  very  kind,  very  satisfactory 
Letter,  just  as  I  was  going  to  thank  you  for  your  first. 

1  The  Crewe  Papers:    Windham  Section,  p.  i8  ("Miscellanies"   of 
the  Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 


174  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

I  do  confess,  that  I  feel  myself  gradually  sinking  into 
something  like  despondency.  It  is  not  from  the  Events 
of  War  ;  which,  as  one  might  expect,  have  been  checquered. 
A  little  security  towards  a  defensive  is  promised  to  us  in 
the  Netherlands.  The  affair  of  Weissenburg  seems  to 
me  one  of  the  finest  things  in  military  History.  I  can 
scarcely,  as  an  operation  of  War,  imagine  anything 
beyond  it.  But  it  is  not  from  our  defeats,  that  my  hopes 
are  damped,  but  from  our  successes.  If  we  had  been 
only  beaten,  better  conduct  and  greater  forces,  with  our 
share  of  the  chances,  might  set  us  right  again.  But  I 
see  nothing,  which  all  the  successes  we  have  had,  and 
much  greater  than  I  dare  to  look  for,  can  do  towards 
bringing  things  to  the  conclusion  we  wish,  as  long  as  the 
plan  we  have  pursued  and  still  pursue,  is  persevered  in. 
When  I  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  we  will  talk  over 
this  matter  in  the  Detail. 

I  agree  with  you,  that  the  proclamation  is  well  drawn  : 
Perhaps  too  well  drawn,  as  it  shows  too  much  art.  I 
admit  that  it  seems,  more  than  anything  else  that  has 
yet  appeared,  to  depart  from  the  unfortunate  plan  of 
making  war  against  France,  and  to  direct  it  where  it  ought 
to  be  directed,  to  the  relief  of  the  oppressed,  and  to  the 
destruction  of  Jacobinism.  I  wish,  however,  that  nothing 
had  been  said  about  indemnity.  It  is  a  thing  unheard  of 
in  this  stage  of  a  War  :  and  as  in  fact  we  have  no  pledge 
whatever  in  our  hands  but  Toulon,  it  looks  as  if  we  meant 
to  keep  that  place,  and  the  ships  in  that  harbour  for  that 
indemnity  though  surrendered  to  our  faith  upon  very 
different  Terms.  This  precious  demand  of  indemnity, 
which  has  a  sort  of  appearance,  (even  so  much  as  perhaps 
to  hazard  the  whole  effect  of  the  Declaration)  of  Fairness, 
is  yet  so  very  loose  and  general  that  I  scarce  know  what 
it  is  that  we  and  the  allied  Courts  may  not  claim  under 
it.  The  worst  of  the  matter  is  that  the  only  object 
which  we  have  hitherto  pursued,  is  the  previous  security 
of  this  indemnification. 


Sir  yoshiui  Rey>tolt1s,  piitxt. 


J.  Hardy,  sculpt. 


EDMUND    KURKK 


1793]  BURKE'S  INDIGNATION  175 

The  thing  however  that  perfectly  sickens  me  in  this 
Declaration   is   its   total   disagreement   with  everything 
we  have  done  or  (so  far  as  I  see)  that  we  are  going  to 
do.     We    promise    protection    and    assistance    to    those 
who  shall  endeavour  the   Restoration  of  Monarchy  in 
that  Country  :    Yet,  though  Poitou  is  in  a  manner  at 
our  door  and  they  have  for  eight  months  carried  on  a  War 
on  the  principles  we  have  pointed  out — not  a  man,  not 
a  ship,  not  an  article  of  stores,  has  been  yet  sent  to  these 
brave  unfortunate  people  ;    all  the  force  we  can  spare 
was  destined  for  our  indemnity  ;   and  when  now  released; 
I  do  not  know  with  what  prudence,  from  the  Flemish 
Service  it  is  intended  again  to  go  to  the  West  Indies. 
No  talk,  nor  no  thought,  of  giving  the  least  of  the  succour 
we  stand  engaged  for,  and  which  common  justice  and 
common  policy  ought  to  have  induced  us  to  send  though 
we  were  under  no  positive  engagement   at   all.     This, 
joined  with  our  refusing  to  recognise  that  Monarchy  in 
those  who  have  a  right  to  exercise  its  authority,  is  a 
defeasance  to  our  Declaration  which  nothing  but  a  total 
change  of  conduct  can  cancell.     However,  though  I  am 
grieved   beyond    measure,    and    mortified    at    this    pro- 
ceeding,  our  only  hopes   are  from  these  people.     The 
conduct  of  our  late  party  is  so  absurd,  contradictory,  and 
self  destructive,  that  I  cannot  easily  express  it.     But  on 
all  these  matters  we  shall  talk  seriously  when  we  meet, 
which   I  trust  will  be  soon.      Oh  !    what  you    say   of 
the  Queen  in  your  two  Letters  is  like  what  I  should  expect 
from  your  feelings  on  that,  the  most  dreadful  scene,  that 
ever  was  exhibited  to  the  world  !     Stupified  as  I  was  at 
the  enormous  wickedness  of    the  actors,  as  well  as   at 
the  nature  of  it,  which  was  worse,  in  my  opinion,  than 
its  magnitude,  and  astonished  at  the  sustained  fortitude 
and  patience  of  the  sufferer,  yet  my  indignation,  at  the 
unfeeling  manner  in  which  it  has  been  received  by  the 
Princes  of  her  own  House,  has  perhaps  been  the  strongest 
of  my  Emotions  on  this  occasion.     The  wicked  faction  at 


176  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

Paris  have  obtained  the  only  end  they  could  have  pro- 
posed to  themselves  by  their  savage  proceedings,  the 
rendering  vile  and  contemptible  the  Royal  Character. 
The  execution  of  a  King  or  Queen  by  the  hands  of  the 
common  hangman,  as  the  lowest  and  vilest  of  criminals, 
will  produce  no  more  effect  than  one  of  the  periodical 
hangings  at  the  old  Bailey.  I  am  quite  of  your  mind  that 
there  is  something  that  mingles  more  of  disgust,  and  of 
compassion,  with  our  horrour  in  this  Barbarity  even 
more  than  in  the  murder  of  the  King.  In  fact  Women, 
and  such  Women,  are  more  out  of  the  Field  in  such  con- 
tentions as  brought  on  these  Events — and  the  Circum- 
stances themselves  were  much  worse.  Sure  some  Justice 
ought  to  be  done  to  a  character  which  does  so  much  more 
than  Justice  to  the  nature  we  belong  to.-' 

Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

Wilderness  :  November  11,  1793 

Though  I  cannot  say  that  the  general  result  of  what 
I  am  going  to  communicate  to  you  is  of  any  very  con- 
siderable importance,  yet  on  the  terms  of  perfect  con- 
fidence with  which  you  have  done  me  the  Honour  to 
treat  me,  and  on  which  I  hope  nothing  will  ever  prevent 
our  continuing  ;  I  think  it  indispensably  necessary  to 
acquaint  you  that,  having  come  here  on  a  visit  to  Lord 
Bayham^  for  a  night,  I  met  Pitt.  This  meeting  was  not 
purely  accidental  but  Lord  Bayham  who  saw  me  in  town 
at  Lord  Lucan's  on  Thursday  asked  me  to  come,  and  told 
me  that  Pitt  was  very  desirous  of  having  an  interview 
with  me,  which  he  thought  might  be  brought  about  more 
agreably  by  me  in  this  mode  than  any  other.  I  deter- 
mined to  accept  of  the  invitation  thinking  that  it  might 
possibly  be  productive  of  some  good,  and  could  not  of 
any  harm,  and  at  all  events  would  probably  afford  us 

1  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  31. 

2  The  courtesy  title  of  the  eldest  son  of  Lord  Camden.  See  vol.  i,  p. 
287,  note  2,  of  this  work. 


1793]  PITT  EXPLAINS  177 

some  information  on  the  present  state  of  Affairs.  I 
confess  that  the  Result  of  it  has  not  in  this  last  point  done 
a  great  deal,  and  in  neither  of  the  former  considerations,  it 
seems  to  have  been  as  nearly  as  possible  indifferent  :  it 
has,  however,  given  me  the  opportunity  of  repeating  to 
him  what  you  had  already  expressed  for  me,  and  of  finding 
that  for  the  present,  with  respect  to  any  internal  arrange- 
ments, matters  remain  I  think,  much  as  your  conversa- 
tion with  him  at  the  end  of  the  last  Session  left  them,  that 
is  to  say,  still  open  but  not  ripe  for  any  decisive  Step.  He 
began  by  saying  that  he  was  desirous  of  having  this 
conversation  with  me  in  order  to  explain  any  thing 
relating  to  the  events  of  the  last  Summer  that  might  have 
left  a  wish  for  explanation  on  my  Mind,  and  to  give  me 
any  confidential  information  I  might  desire  to  have, 
and  he  might  be  able  to  give  me,  respecting  any  such 
events  and  the  general  state  of  affairs.  He  then  seemed  to 
expect  me  to  point  out  the  particular  objects  on  which 
I  wished  the  conversation  to  turn.  I  own  I  felt  very 
awkwardly  at  the  moment,  owing  rather  to  the  finding 
myself  all  at  once  in  so  very  new  a  situation  to  me,  and  I 
believe  in  consequence  of  this  I  did  not  explain  myself  at 
first  so  clearly  and  intelligibly  as  I  could  have  wished. 
From  this  circumstance  also  it  probably  arises  that  I  am 
not  able  to  give  a  very  exact  detail  of  what  passed  be- 
tween us  on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  general  sub- 
stance, however,  I  think  was,  that  the  idea  of  taking 
Dunkirk  formed  originally  a  part  of  the  general  Plan  of 
the  Campaign,  in  which,  it  was  hoped  we  might  have 
got  into  possession  of  that  Port  (stated  by  him  to  be 
a  considerable  object  as  being  a  Port,  and  from  the 
nearness  of  its  situation  to  us  being  more  likely  to  give 
a  favourable  impression  of  the  war  in  their  Country)  of  a 
strong  line  of  Frontier  from  thence  all  the  way  to  Mau- 
beuge  inclusively,  and  even  of  having  formed  something 
like  a  winter  investment  of  Lille  ;  I  collect  from  what 
he  said  that  it  had  been  agreed  that  the  Austrian  Artillery 
I  M 


178  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

should  have  cooperated  in  the  siege  of  Dunkirk,  but  as 
they  insisted  on  conducting  that  of  Quesnoy  ^  at  the  same 
time,  it  become  necessary  for  our  Army  there  to  be 
suppHed  from  home,  and  a  Requisition  was  accordingly 
sent,  and  answered  in  such  a  manner  that  he  speaks  with 
great  confidence  of  being  able  by  a  new  statement  of  dates 
to  satisfy  us  that  every  exertion  that  could  be  made  was 
made.  As  to  the  want  of  Gun-boats,  the  fact  is  that  they 
had  no  idea  that  they  would  be  wanted  till  a  requisition 
was  sent  for  them  from  the  Army  actually  before  Dunkirk, 
and  then,  of  course,  they  could  not  come  in  time.  All  this, 
you  see,  in  reality  amounts  to  little  more  than  saying  that 
Dunkirk  was  attacked  with  an  inadequate  force,  and,  of 
course,  that  all  that  we  lost  both  in  time,  in  stores,  in  ex- 
pences,  in  men,  and  in  reputation  by  it  was  absolutely 
en  pure  ferte.  I  dwelt  a  good  deal  (after  I  had  recovered 
my  nerves  a  little)  and  repeatedly  in  the  course  of  our 
conversation  on  the  expediency  if  it  could  possibly  be  done 
of  making  some  satisfactory  explanation  at  the  opening  of 
the  Session  upon  these  points,  as  they  are  likely  to  have 
taken  some  hold  of  the  publick  mind,  and  to  have  given 
strength  to  opposition  in  general.  He  did  not  say  anything 
directly  to  this,  but  I  think  it  did  not  pass  without  excit- 
ing his  attention.  He  seems  in  general  to  look  on  the 
French  as  being  at  present  in  a  Situation  less  likely  to 
dispose  them  to  yield  than  they  were  some  months  ago, 
owing  partly  to  the  Surrender  of  Lyons  and  partly  to  their 
successes  in  La  Vendee,  which  he  apprehends  to  be 
more  decisive  than  they  have  ever  been  yet ;  though  he  did 
not  seem  to  state  any  very  clear  Intelligence  having  been 
received  about  them.  The  Ships  that  were  sent  away 
from  Toulon  to  the  other  Sea  Ports,  which  was  a  measure 
that  has  excited  some  Curiosity  and  no  inconsiderable 
Surprize  in  many  people,  were  sent  by  Lord  Hood  on  his 
own  Authority  in  order  to  remove  about  5000  Seamen 

^  Quesnoy  was  taken  by  the  Austrians,  September  ii,  1793.     It  was 
recovered  by  the  French,  August  16,  1794. 


1793]  PITT  DETERMINED  ON  WAR  179 

from  the  Place  who  were  very  ill  affected  and  who  might 
have  been  capable  ofdoingmuch  Mischief,  more  particularly 
before  they  were  so  much  reinforced  there,  as  they  have 
since  been.  I  think  this  is  nearly  the  substance  of  what 
passed  with  respect  to  past  transactions.  With  respect  to 
the  future,  I  found  him  fully  determined  on  the  most 
vigorous  exertions  in  the  Prosecution  of  the  War,  in 
which  he  seems  to  expect  a  very  cordial  cooperation  on 
the  part  of  the  Austrians ;  on  that  of  the  Prussians  he  is 
not  so  sanguine,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  he  should 
not  be  much  surprized  if  they  were  to  withdraw  altogether 
from  the  Confederacy.  The  other  Powers  will  act  as  they  are 
paid  (the  Dutch  I  think  we  omitted  to  speak  of).  He 
seems  much  inclined  to  the  Opinion  that  there  will  be  little 
hope  of  putting  an  End  to  the  War  without  penetrating 
pretty  far  into  the  interior  of  France,  and  in  order  to  [do] 
that,  it  would  seem  that  we  must  possess  ourselves  of  all 
the  frontier  strong  Places  (even  including  Lille)  before 
we  can  advance  with  any  Security,  the  ostensible  Object 
of  the  War  is,  I  suppose,  to  be  consonant  to  the  Language 
of  the  Declaration,  namely,  such  a  Government  in  France 
as  the  rest  of  Europe  may  reasonably  depend  upon  for  its 
future  Peace  and  Security,  hinting  then  at  the  same  time 
that  a  Monarchy  of  some  kind  or  other  at  least  is  the 
most  likely  to  attain  those  Ends.  On  the  Article  of 
Expence  he  talked  very  openly,  and  said  that  he  should 
want  at  least  12  millions  for  the  Supply  of  the  Year  (I 
suppose  of  course  the  extra  supply  for  the  War),  but 
from  the  situation  of  the  Finances  he  hoped  to  be  only 
obliged  to  lay  absolutely  new  Taxes  to  the  amount  of  from 
three  to  400,000,  and  he  hopes  to  lay  them  in  a  manner  that 
shall  not  be  much  felt.  He  asked  me  whether  I  happened 
to  know  anything  of  the  Duke  of  Portland's  present 
Sentiments,  I  said  I  had  heard  that  he  was  still  disposed 
to  support  the  War.  In  the  course  of  this  part  of  the 
Conversation,  as  he  happened  to  mention  your  Name,  I 
thought  it  not  a  bad  opportunity  to  find  out  whether  he 


i8o  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

had  still  any  views  similar  to  what  he  talked  of  with 
you  last  Summer  on  the  subject  of  political  arrange- 
ments, so  I  said  that  you  had  according  to  his  desire  as 
I  believed,  communicated  to  me  at  that  time  the  Sub- 
stance of  what  had  passed  between  you,  and  that  I  also 
believed  you  had  expressed  to  him  our  joint  Opinion  that 
we  thought  upon  the  whole  that  an  unconnected  sup- 
port of  Government  would  then  have  more  weight  and 
efficacy  than  if  we  were  to  take  a  share  in  any  part  of  the 
administration.  I  added  that  m}''  opinion  still  continued  on 
that  subject  pretty  much  the  same,  and  that,  instead  of 
having  seen  anything  to  alter  it  since,  I  found  it  rather 
confirmed  by  circumstances  that  had  happened.  He 
answered  that  he  was  very  glad  I  had  mentioned  the 
subject  as  it  would  give  him  an  opportunity  of  saying  a 
word  or  two  upon  it,  though  he  should  not  have  men- 
tioned it  first  himself,  because  at  the  present  moment  there 
was  no  opening  that  would  enable  him  to  make  any 
proposal  of  the  kind  ;  he,  however,  hoped  that  I  should 
still  allow  the  matter  to  remain  open,  and  in  case  any 
occasion  offered  such  as  to  put  it  in  his  power  to  make 
any  such  proposal,  that  he  might  have  my  leave  to  com- 
municate again  with  me  upon  the  Subject.  This  is  as 
near  as  I  can  recollect  the  substance  of  what  passed 
between  us  in  private  ;  or  this  latter  part  of  our  con- 
versation. 

I  particularl}^  noticed  that  he  treated  the  Idea  of 
a  possibility  of  our  coming  into  office  only  on  the  Sup- 
position of  our  doing  it  jointly,  and  I  took  the  more 
particular  Notice  of  this,  because  in  the  conversation  I 
had  at  Lord  Lucan's  with  Lord  Bayham,  which  gave  rise 
to  this  meeting,  he  had  thrown  out  something  like  a  hint, 
which  at  the  same  time  he  assured  me  he  was  not  com- 
missioned to  do,  but  which  I  think  he  never  could  have 
mentioned  if  it  had  not  been  concerted,  that  his  Father, 
Lord  Camden  ^  now  found  it  impossible  for  him  to  con- 

1  Sir  Charles  Pratt,  first  Earl  Camden  (1714- 1794) ;  Lord  Chancellor, 


1793]   LORD  SPENCER  AND  THE  CABINET       i8i 

tinue  in  Office,  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  but  that  if 
that  Situation  would  be  agreable  to  me,  the  members  of 
the  Administration  would  be  very  glad  it  should  be  filled 
by  me,  but  that  at  the  same  time  there  was  not  at  present 
an  opening  for  any  other  Cabinet  Office.  My  immediate 
Answer  to  this  was,  first  generally,  the  same  sort  of 
answer  which  I  afterwards  gave  to  Pitt,  but  besides  that 
even  if  I  did  think  the  occasion  called  for  my  coming  into 
Office,  I  could  not  for  a  moment  entertain  an  Idea  of  doing 
so  unaccompanied  by  you.  He  again  repeated  that  he 
had  no  Commission  to  mention  the  matter  to  me,  and 
that  he  did  not  know  whether  Pitt  would  mention  it  in 
the  Interview  we  were  to  have  ;  but  I  have  myself  very 
little  doubt  but  that  he  was  employed  to  feel  the  ground 
a  little  before  that  Interview,  and  that,  finding  me  so 
clearly  determined  on  the  subject,  Pitt  took  the  Line 
I  have  already  described  to  you,  in  our  conversation.  I 
took  occasion  to  express  in  the  course  of  what  I  said 
my  decided  purpose  of  supporting  government  in  a 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  War ;  and,  indeed,  I  do  not 
now  see  what  other  possible  track  we  can  pursue  in  order  to 
arrive  at  a  desirable  termination  of  it,  for  any  appearance 
of  relaxation  in  our  efforts  now  must  unquestionably  not 
only  encourage  the  Enemy,  but  tend  to  discourage  and 
disunite  all  our  Allies,  whom,  it  certainly  is  of  essential 
consequence,  if  possible,  to  keep  together.  I  understand 
from  Pitt  that  the  last  private  accounts  they  have  from 
the  Prince  of  Coburg  mention  his  having  received  positive 
Orders  from  Vienna  to  do  everything  in  his  Power  to  force 
the  Enemy  to  a  general  Action,  It  is,  therefore,  a  most 
anxious  moment  for  he  had  begun  to  take  measures 
accordingly,  and  the  very  next  accounts  may  very 
possibly  contain  something  of  infinite  importance.  The 
Accounts  in  yesterday's  Extra-ordinary  Gazette  from 
Toulon  are,  I  think,  very  satisfactory,  as  they  seem  to 

1766-1770  ;   President  of  the  Council,  1782-1783,  and  again  from  1784 
until  shortly  before  his  death. 


182  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

indicate  a  great  deal  of  Spirit,  and  a  very  cordial  union 
among  the  different  troops  of  the  Garrison,  which,  from 
all  the  reinforcements  they  have  lately  received,  appears 
to  be  very  equal  to  the  defence  of  the  Place  ;  there  have 
also  been  some  very  great  dissensions  between  the  French 
and  Americans,  which  may  very  probably  turn  to  good 
account.  Upon  the  whole,  notwithstanding  the  unfavour- 
able circumstances  which  in  the  course  of  this  very  long 
letter  I  have  alluded  to,  I  feel  inclined  to  be  in  pretty  good 
spirits  and  if  we  should  happen  to  gain  anything  like  a 
brilliant  advantage  to  close  the  Campaign  in  Flanders 
it  may  have  a  surprising  effect  in  making  people  forget  the 
former  miscarriages,  and  join  heartily  in  the  maintenance 
of  what  every  day  becomes  more  and  more  the  general 
cause  of  all  that  is  good  or  estimable  under  the  Law.  Pitt 
has  promised  to  send  me  word  if  any  important  Event 
should  take  place,  and,  of  course,  you  shall  certainly 
hear  from  me  again,  if  I  should  have  anything  worth 
communicating. 

I  am  quite  ashamed  of  having  been  so  long  winded,  but  I 
did  not  well  know  how  to  abridge  what  I  had  to  tell  you, 
though  after  all  I  believe  you  will  not  think  there  is  much 
in  it.  I  go  down  to  Althorp  to-morrow  and  shall  stay 
there  till  the  beginning  of  January.  Parliament,  I  under- 
stand, is  to  meet  a  few  days  before  the  Birthday.^ 


William  Windham  to  James  Wyatt^ 

Felbrigg  :  November  23,  1793 

I  shall  no  longer  insist  upon  a  right  which  I  have  no 
means  of  enforcing,  nor  complain  of  injuries,  which  it 
is  not  in  my  power  to  redress.  It  is  near  two  years  since 
you  undertook  a  business  for  me  neither  requiring,  nor 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  119. 

2  James  Wyatt  ( 1 746-1 813),  architect,  adapted  the  Pantheon  in  Oxford 
Street  for  dramatic  performances ;  restored  Salisbury,  Lincoki,  Hereford 
and  Lichfield  Cathedrals;  from  Graeco- Italian  style  he  developed  into 
Gothic. 


1793]  A  SEVERE  REBUKE  183 

admitting  of,  delay  ;  and  which  you  have  not  done  yet. 
I  have  written  to  you  no  less  than  five  letters  desiring  to 
know,  whether  you  meant  to  do  this,  or  not :  and  you 
have  returned  no  answer. 

You  may  think  perhaps  that  this  is  a  mark  of  genius, 
and  the  privelege  of  a  man  eminent  in  his  profession  : 
But  you  must  give  me  leave  to  say,  that  it  must  be  a 
profession  higher  than  that  of  an  Architect,  and  eminence 
greater  than  that  of  Mr.  Wyatt,  that  can  make  one  see 
in  this  proceeding  anything  but  great  impertinence,  and 
a  degree  of  neglect,  that  may  well  be  called  dishonest. 

It  is  dishonest  to  make  engagements,  which  you  are 
either  not  able  or  not  willing  to  fullfil  :  It  is  in  the 
highest  degree  uncivil  to  receive  letter  after  letter,  con- 
taining a  question  which  the  writer  is  entitled  to  ask  :  and 
to  send  no  answer. 

Pray,  Sir,  who  are  you,  upon  whom  engagements  are 
to  be  of  no  force  ;  and  who  are  to  set  aside  all  the  forms 
of  civility  established  between  man  and  man  ?  Had  the 
most  private  Gentleman  of  the  country  written  to  the 
first  minister  of  the  country,  he  would  have  received  an 
answer  in  a  quarter  of  the  time.  And  what  is  this  privelege 
denied  to  persons  in  that  station,  which  you  suppose  to 
be  possessed  by  you  ?  A  privelege  not  allowed  to  a 
man's  betters  may  be  expected  to  be  one  of  which  he 
has  no  great  reason  to  boast.  But  of  this  I  leave  you  to 
judge.  There  is  one  privelege  which  you  shall  not  possess, 
that  of  acting  with  rudeness  and  contumely  without  being 
told  of  your  conduct.  If  you  are  fond  of  placing  yourself 
in  a  situation,  in  which  you  must  hear  these  charges  with- 
out the  power  of  refuting  them,  I  wish  you  joy  of  your 
choice,  and  with  that  reflexion  shall  take  my  leave  of  you. 

P.S.  Am  I  to  expect,  that  the  metal  frames,  which 
you  ordered  at  Sheffield,  will  come  at  last,  when  they  are 
no  longer  wanted  :  or  am  I  to  understand  only,  that  what 
you  told  me,  is  not  true,  and  that  no  such  order  was  given  ? ' 

1  Add.  MSS.  37914  f.  67 


i84  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

November  25,  1793 
Since  I  wrote  last,  the  outside  of  affairs  is  a  good  deal 
mended,  but  they  will  not  bear  inspection.     Our  politics 
want  directness  and  simplicity.    A  spirit  of  chicane,  or 
something  very  like  it,  predominates  in  all  that  is  done, 
either  by  our  allies  or  by  ourselves.     Westminster-Hall  has 
ruined  Whitehall ;    and  there  are  many  things  in  which 
we  proceed  more  like  lawyers  than  statesmen.     If  this 
distemper  is    not  cured,  I  undertake    to  say,  with  the 
more  positive  assurance,  that  nothing  but  shame  and 
destruction  can  be  the  result  of  all  our  operations  in  the 
field  and  in  the  cabinet.     All  the  misfortunes  of  the 
war  have  arisen  from  this  very  intricacy  and  ambiguity 
in  our  politics  ;  and  yet,  though  this  is  as  visible  as  I  think 
it  is  real,  I  do  not  find  the  smallest  disposition  to  make 
any  alteration  in  the  system.     I  have  the  greatest  possible 
desire  of  talking  with  you  on  this  subject.     I  think  some- 
thing ought  to  be  done,  and  I  know  that  I  cannot  act 
alone.     If  I  had  not  always  felt  this,  all  that  has  happened 
within  these  three  months  would  have  convinced  me  of  it. 
The  very  existence  of  human  affairs,  in  their  ancient  and 
happy  order,  depends  upon  the  existence  of  this  ministry  ; 
but  it  does  not  depend  upon  their  existence  only  in  their 
ministerial  situation  and  capacity,  but  on  their  doing 
their  duty  in  it.     They  are  certainly  bewildered  in  the 
labyrinth  of  their  own  politics.     What  you  observe  is 
most  true  ;    they  think  they  can  defend  themselves  the 
better  by  taking  part  of  the  ground  of  their  adversary. 
But  that  is  a  woful  mistake.     He  is  consistent  and  they 
are  not.     He  is  strengthened  by  their  concessions.     He 
avails  himself  of  what  they  yield,  and  contends  with 
advantage  for  the  rest.     As  to  the  affairs  of  France,  into 
which  they  have  entered  at  last,  it  is  plain  to  me  that 
they  are  wholly  confounded  by  their  magnitude.     The 
crimes  that  accumulated  on  each  other  astonish  them. 


1793]  THE  STATE  OF  FRANCE  185 

These  crimes  produce  the  effects  which  their  authors 
propose  by  them.  They  fill  our  ministers,  and  I  believe 
the  ministers  of  other  courts,  not  with  indignation  and 
manly  resentment,  but  with  an  abject  terror.  They  are 
oppressed  by  these  crimes — ^they  cry  quarter — and  then 
they  talk  a  feeling  language  of  mercy  ;  but  it  is  not  mercy 
to  the  innocent  and  virtuous  sufferers,  but  to  base, 
cruel  and  relentless  tyrants.  I  shall  explain  myself 
more  fully  when  we  meet.  People  talk  of  the  cruelty  of 
punishing  a  revolutionary  tribunal,  and  the  authors  of 
the  denunciation  of  an  infant  king,  concerning  offences 
that  the  voice  of  humanity  cannot  utter,  in  order  to 
criminate  his  own  mother,  at  the  very  moment,  (this  very 
moment)  when  they  turn  out  of  the  house,  which  they 
have  given  them  in  the  king's  name  and  taken  credit 
for  it,  six  hundred  and  eighty  virtuous  and  religious 
men,  in  the  beginning  of  a  winter,  which  threatens  no 
small  rigour,  without  a  place  to  hide  their  heads  in. 

I  am  mortified  at  all  this,  and  I  believe  I  express  myself 
with  some  confusion  about  it.  But  we  must  endeavour 
to  make  our  complaints  rather  effectual  than  loud.  The 
other  faction  is  dreadful  indeed.  It  consists  of  two 
parts ;  one  of  which  is  feebly  and  unsystematically 
right,  the  other  regularly,  uniformly,  and  actively  wrong  ; 
and,  what  is  natural,  that  which  is  the  most  steady  and 
energetic,  gives  the  law  to  that  which  is  lax  and  wavering. 
The  entire  unfolding  of  the  Jacobin  system  has  made 
no  change  in  them  whatsoever.  Not  one  of  them  has 
been  converted  ;  no,  nor  even  shaken  ;  and  those  who 
coincide  with  us  in  the  absolute  necessity  of  this  war 
(to  which,  however,  they  give  but  a  very  trimming  and 
ambiguous  support),  are  become  far  more  attached  than 
ever  to  their  Jacobin  friends,  are  animated  with  much 
greater  rage  than  ever  against  the  ministers,  and  are 
become  not  much  less  irritated  against  those  of  their  old 
friends  who  act  decidedly  and  honestly  in  favour  of  their 
principles.     This  state  of  things  requires  to  be  handled 


i86  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

according  to  its  true  nature.  If  you  and  I  take  the 
steps  we  ought  to  take,  there  is  yet  a  chance  that  all  may 
be  right.  For  God's  sake  come,  and  come  speedily,  for 
no  time  is  to  be  lost.^ 


Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

Althorp  :  December  8,  1793 

Lord  Lucan  tells  us  that  you  and  Burke  will  be  in 
Town.  If  I  thought  that  my  presence  there  at  this  moment 
could  be  of  any  possible  good  Effect,  your  Wish  should 
not  long  remain  unaccomplished,  but  as  I  do  not  foresee 
that  any  useful  Purpose  can  be  answered  by  my  being  there 
at  present,  I  shall,  I  believe,  prefer  staying  here  till  the 
beginning  of  next  Month,  when  I  shall  certainly  come  to 
Town,  as  I  think  it  wiU  be  very  desirable  that  those  who 
think  alike  on  the  present  State  of  Politicks  should  have 
some  Communication,  and  Concert  at  least  for  a  few 
days  previous  to  the  meeting  of  Parliament,  I  have  of  late 
much  wished  for  you  here,  more  especially  when  Tom 
Grenville  ^  was  with  me,  as  we  had  at  that  time  a  great 
deal  of  conversation  on  these  matters,  the  purport  and 
tendency  of  which,  though  it  is  much  too  extensive  for 
the  compass  of  a  Letter  I  am  extremely  desirous  for  you 
to  be  acquainted  with.  I  wish  I  could  prevail  upon  you 
to  come  down  here  in  the  course  of  this  Month,  but  if 
that  is  impossible,  I  hope  I  may  depend  on  finding  you  in 
London  in  the  first  week  in  January.  The  Period  which 
is  to  produce  something  of  rather  a  more  decisive  Nature 
in  our  Conduct  is  now  fast  approaching,  and  not  to  have 
well  weighed  and  naturally  considered  all  its  bearings 
before  we  are  to  act,  will  be  of  very  bad  consequence. 
I,  in  my  own  Mind,  not  only  remain  of  the  same  Opinion 
on  the  general  Nature  of  what  that  Line  of  Conduct  ought 

^  Burke,  "  Correspondence,"  iv.  201. 

2  Thomas  Grenville  (1755-1846),  younger  brother  of  Lord  Grenville, 
diplomatist  and  statesman.  He  bequeathed  his  books  to  the  British 
Museum,  where  his  collection  is  known  as  The  Grenville  Library. 


1793]  PURSUIT  OF  THE  WAR  187 

to  be,  but  are  much  confirmed  in  it,  by  several  Circum- 
stances, which  may  best  be  explained  when  we  meet.  In 
general  terms,  the  Line  of  Conduct  which  the  present 
Situation  of  the  Country  loudly  calls  upon  us  to  pursue 
appears  to  me  to  be,  the  most  vigorous,  determined,  and 
declared  Support  of  the  War  (and,  of  course,  of  Govern- 
ment), unconnected,  however,  by  Office  with  Administra- 
tion, and  not  only  unconnected,  but  avowedly  hostile  to 
the  views  and  Measures  of  the  Party  who  call  themselves 
the  Friends  of  the  People  ;  unconnected  with  Administra- 
tion, because  we  shall  by  that  means  establish  our  Claim  to 
the  Confidence  of  every  independent  Man  in  the  Country, 
and  convince  the  People  if  they  are  open  to  Conviction; 
that  there  are  Men  who  can  adopt  a  Line  of  publick 
Conduct  solely  because  they  think  it  right,  and  not  as 
being  the  old  hackneyed  Road  to  high  Situations  or  great 
Emoluments;  and  openly  hostile  to  the  views  of  the  violent 
Party,  because  we  shall  thereby  cut  off  all  Idea  of  any 
lingering  after  the  old  Opposition  as  it  used  to  be  formed, 
which  in  truth  consisted  of  such  a  Medley  of  discordant 
and  absolutely  contradictory  Principles,  as  could  not  but 
extinguish  all  hopes  of  its  being  either  useful  to  the 
Publick,  or  creditable  to  those  who  composed  it.  On 
Principles  like  these  I  am  inclined  now  to  be  more  san- 
guine than  I  was  when  we  last  talked  on  these  Subjects, 
as  to  the  Chance  of  our  being  able  to  collect  a  body 
sufficiently  respectable  both  as  to  number  and  character 
to  make  a  considerable  and  that  a  very  desirable  impres- 
sion on  the  Publick,  and  to  have  a  really  efficient  Weight 
with  Ministry  and  Parliament  ;  and  if  I  am  not  too 
sanguine  in  this  Hope,  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me 
that  the  chance  of  doing  it  is  worth  the  tryal  ;  the  more 
particular  details  of  this  Idea,  which  I  allow  is  not  yet 
sufficiently  matured  for  me  to  state  them  fully,  will  be 
the  subject  of  the  Conversations  which  we  miist  have 
before  the  21''  of  next  Month,  and  my  principal  Reason 
for  troubling  you  with  this  Letter  now,  was  to  endeavour. 


i88  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

if  possible,  to  have  as  early  an  opportunity  of  entering 
with  you  into  these  Details,  as  the  nature  of  your  other 
Engagements  will  allow. 

I  am  much  afraid,  from  the  present  Complexion  of 
our  military  Operations  both  by  Sea  and  Land,  that 
to  all  our  other  difficulties,  we  shall  have  an  addition 
of  a  great  deal  of  ill  humour  to  struggle  with  on  the  subject 
of  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  but  the  Objects  that  we  have 
to  contend  for,  are  much  too  important  for  us  to  hesitate 
in  taking  our  Share  of  that  difficulty. 

Pray  let  me  have  a  Line  at  least  to  tell  me,  when  I 
am  likely  to  see  you  and  whether  here  or  in  Town.^ 

Lord  Malmesbury  2  to  William  Windham 

Frankfort :  December  13,  1793 

Altho'  I  have  been  in  the  way  of  armies  I  have  had  no 
military  event  come  in  my  way,  which  you  have  not 
heard  and  seen  from  the  newspapers — you  should  other- 
wise have  received  a  letter  from  me  and  been  thanked 
for  the  very  kind  one  you  wrote  me  just  as  I  was  leaving 
England.  I  have,  indeed,  no  inducement  of  news,  to  write 
to  you  now,  but  one  which  I  flatter  myself  you  will  not 
think  either  an  uninteresting  or  useless  one. 

The  Duke  of  York  was  so  good  as  to  meet  me  at  Alost 
about  a  week  ago  and  to  talk  to  me  in  a  very  confidential 
manner.  I  cannot  trust  the  particulars  of  his  conversa- 
tion to  the  post.  The  result,  as  far  as  it  related  to  himself, 
went  to  confirm  me  in  the  good  opinion  I  was  always  dis- 
posed to  have  of  him,  and  in  general  not  to  alter  that  I 
had,  that  many  mistakes  and  missions  had  in  the  course 
of  the  summer  defeated  the  effect  of  his  exertions  and 
rendered  the  end  of  the  campaign  less  brilliant  than 
the  beginning.     He  was  not  insensible  to  those  neglects, 

^  Add.  MSS.  3784s  f.  124. 

2  Lord  Malmesbury  had  been  sent  by  Pitt  to  Berlin  to  give  a  neces- 
sary reminder  to  King  Frederick  William  of  his  treaty  obligations  to 
support  England  in  the  war  with  France. 


1793]       THE  DUKE  OF  YORK'S  WISHES  189 

but  he  expressed  a  very  anxious  and  earnest  desire  that  if 
any  of  the  more  violent  members  of  opposition  should,  in 
their  wishes  to  harass  and  criminate  Government,  affect 
a  sollicitude  about  him  and  a  compassion  for  his  situation, 
or  even  if  they  should  join  him  in  the  common  censure 
about  Dunkirk  or  any  other  military  operation,  I  say,  that 
in  either  of  these  cases,  the  Duke  expressed  his  anxious 
and  earnest  desire,  that,  none  of  his  friends  out  of  zeal 
or  regard  for  him  should  say  anything  which  might 
raise  a  clamour  against  administration  or  weaken  their 
measures  by  defending  him  at  their  expense  :  that  such 
a  defence,  however  grateful  he  should  feel  for  it,  would 
necessarily  go  to  diminish  the  strength  of  Government 
and  in  its  effect  militate  directly  against  a  cause  the  sup- 
port of  which  he  felt  as  a  duty  before  which  any  personal 
consideration  ought  to  give  way.  That  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  separate  in  the  minds  of  the  many  the  partial 
blame  of  any  one  specifick  measure  in  the  course  of  the  war 
from  a  general  disapprobation  of  the  principle  on  which 
it  was  begun  and  going  on,  and  that  the  very  worst  of 
consequences  would  attend  such  an  idea  being  attributed 
to  those  he  was  happy  to  call  his  friends.  He  named  you 
and  Pelham  and  expressly  directed  me  to  write  to  you 
both,  which  I  do,  I  am  sure  without  altering  his  sense,  if 
I  have  altered  his  words. 

The  only  case  in  which  he  hoped  to  be  supported 
and  defended  was  if  any  gross  and  notoriously  abusive 
attack  should  be  made  upon  him,  and  even  then  he  only 
wished  (as  it  would  be  evidently  made  with  a  view  to 
provoke)  that  the  defence  should  rest  on  general  grounds, 
and  all  particular  details  and  personalities  be  avoided. 
I  am  the  more  anxious  to  write  to  you  on  this  subject, 
as  I  am  sure  you  will  feel  the  Duke  to  be  as  right  and 
judicious  in  his  advice  as  he  is  temperate  and  forbearing 
in  his  character,  and  admit  the  extreme  importance  that 
Parliament  should  open  with  the  greatest  appearance  of 
concord  and  unanimity,  and  that  England  should  give  an 


190  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

impression  to  Europe,  which  may  perhaps  as  much  con- 
tribute to  the  success  of  the  great  cause  in  which  we  are 
struggling  as  victories  or  successful  negotiations. 

I  have  written  to  the  same  effect,  nearly  in  the  same 
words  to  Pelham.  I  shall  be  happy  to  hear  from  you  at 
your  leisure  and  promise  you  that  my  next  letter  shall  be 
more  entertaining. 

I  leave  this  place  for  Berlin  to  morrow.  I  see  nothing  but 
insurmountable  difhcultys  there ;  and  if  I  am  absurd  for 
undertaking  them  I  trust  my  friends  will  at  least  vouch  for 
my  not  having  accepted  a  sinecure  office.^ 


William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 

December  16,  1793 

The  only  point  in  which  it  is  material  that  I  should 
trouble  you  is  that  which  relates  to  the  communication 
with  the  Princes.  On  this  I  would  wish  to  state  such 
portions  as  I  have  happened  to  hear,  without  repeating 
opinions  with  which  you  are  already  acquainted. 

The  Princes,  I  understand,  are  full  of  jealousy  of  this 
conference  which  they  understand  is  to  precede  any 
recognition  of  their  title.  Their  jealousy  turns  principally 
upon  these  points  : 

A  fear  lest  the  purpose  of  this  country  should  be  to 
limit  their  authority  in  order  to  keep  France  henceafter 
in  a  feeble  and  depressed  state. 

A  fear  lest  the  ideas  of  the  Constitutionalists  should 
be  suffered  to  prevail  too  much,  in  which  apprehension 
they  are  confirmed  by  the  terms  of  the  agreement  at 
Toulon. 

A  fear  lest  views  of  indemnification  should  operate 
too  far,  and  sacrifices  be  required  of  them,  inconsistent 
with  their  duty  and  character. 

A  general  apprehension  growing  out  of  all  the  former, 
that  the  Cabinet  here  is  not  in  earnest  in  wishing  to  see 

1  Add.  MSS.  i7&7z  f.  243. 


1793]  THE  COMTE  D'ARTOIS  191 

them  for  the  present  at  the  head  of  the  Royahst  party  ; 
but  would  rather  that  the  cause  should,  to  a  certain 
length,  be  carried  on  without  them. 

These  seem  to  be  the  principal  heads  of  uneasiness 
which,  whether  reasonable  or  not,  must  be  considered  as 
very  excuseable  in  their  situation. 

The  danger  is  that  in  the  state  of  ferment  in  which  their 
minds  must  be,  and  stimulated  in  particular  as  the 
Comte  D'Artois  ^  is  by  every  feeling  of  duty  and  honour, 
he  should  take  some  rash  step,  and  without  consulting 
anything  but  his  sentiments  and  feelings,  should  throw 
himself  upon  the  Coast  of  Brittany,  in  the  first  vessel 
that  he  can  procure. 

The  person  from  whom  I  hear  this  principally,  and 
who,  though  standing  in  an  inferior  station  to  the  Due 
D'Harcourt,^  is  still  secretly  much  in  their  secrets,  is 
persuaded  nevertheless  that  they  are  much  disposed  to 
be  tractable,  and  would  be  quieted  by  any  general  assur- 
ance relative  to  the  above  points,  conveyed  to  them  by  a 
person  in  whose  sincerity  he  could  confide. 

I  know  not  that  I  can  add  anything  to  the  simple 
exposition  of  the  fact,  coupled  with  those  opinions  which 
I  took  the  liberty  of  stating  to  you  the  other  day.  I  am 
obliged  at  present  to  write  rather  in  a  hurry,  as  I  wish 
to  leave  Town  to-day.  I  regret  now  rather  that  I  missed 
the  occasion  of  discoursing  on  any  such  points  more  at 
leisure  which  you  and  Mr.  Dundas  were  so  obliging  as  to 
offer.^ 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe 

Felbrigg  :  December  26,  1793 

I  have  just  got  a  letter  from  you,  which  might  serve 

to  whet  my  purpose  had  it  been  before  almost  blunted, 

1  Charles  Philippe  de  France,  Comte  d'Artois  (17 57-1 836),  succeeded 
his  brother  to  the  throne  in  1824  as  Charles  X.  ;   abdicated,  1830. 

2  Duo  D'Harcourt,  son  of  Marshal  D'Harcourt,  sometime  Governor 
of  Normandy. 

3  Ad4,  MSS.  37844  f.  15, 


192  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

which  it  was  not,  of  writing  to  you  by  this  post.  Don't 
feel  any  immediate  fear  of  the  machinations  of  the 
Jacobins,  notwithstanding  the  bad  news  which  this 
Gazette  has  brought  from  Toulon  ;  ^  and  still  less  suffer 
yourself  to  be  perplext  or  shaken  by  their  reasoning. 
Those  who  can  stand  all  these  effects  of  their  blessed 
system  must  have  good  stomachs  indeed.  It  is  in  vain 
for  them  to  try  to  lead  off  the  attention  to  other  objects, 
or  to  seek  for  evasions  or  subterfuges.  The  experiment 
is  full  and  flat  in  their  faces.  There  is  a  full  exemplification 
of  the  state  to  which  they  wished,  and  endeavoured,  and 
are  endeavouring,  to  bring  the  world-robbery,  murder, 
atheism,  universal  profligacy  of  manners,  contempt  of 
every  law  divine  and  human.  Much  of  this  is  what 
many  of  the  leaders  of  this  sect  have  no  objection  to.  It 
is,  indeed,  to  them  its  recommendation.  It  serves  to  cover 
what  good-nature  and  softness  may  otherwise  make  them 
shrink  from.  What  others'  intentions  may  be  I  know 
not ;  but  my  determination  is  open,  steady  war  against 
the  whole  Jacobin  faction  ;  and  junction  for  that  purpose 
with  whomever  it  may  be  necessary  to  join.  That  it  will 
be  necessary  to  join  anybody  in  ofiice  I  do  not  mean  to 
say.  You  need  not  fear  my  doing  it  alone  ;  first,  because 
I  do  not  think  it  will  be  advantageous  to  the  general 
cause  to  do  it  in  that  way  ;  and  next,  because  whenever 
the  time  comes  that  that  question  shall  arise,  there  will  be 
others,  I  hope,  disposed  to  do  it  with  me.  These  are  my 
ideas  upon  the  subject,  and  which  there  is  no  necessity 
to  make  any  secret  of.  The  sum  of  the  opinion  is,  that  I 
am  a  determined  foe  to  the  new  system,  and  that  I  shall 
oppose  that,  either  in  or  out  of  office,  according  as 
circumstances  shall  show  that  one  or  other  mode  is  most 
effectual. 

Your  correspondent  from  Buxton,  as  well  as  the  other 
who  talks  about  Lord  Howe,  both  provoke  me  ;    but  I 
think  the  last  the  most ;   as  he  is  perfectly  foolish,  while 
*  Toulon  was  regained  by  the  French  ou  December  20. 


1793]      THE  DUKE  OF  YORK  DEFENDED         193 

the  other  may  only  be  wicked  :  and  folly,  though  less 
odious,  is  more  provoking  than  wickedness.  These 
clamours  against  the  Duke  of  York  are  for  the  most  part 
utterly  without  foundation  ;  and  in  all  very  nearly  so. 
They  originate  in  the  mere  licentiousness  of  the  office  part 
of  the  army.  The  Duke  of  York  is,  I  believe,  a  most 
respectable  character  ;  his  conduct  is,  I  am  sure,  in  many 
respects  perfectly  exemplary.  Nothing  material  in  the 
campaign  has  suffered  from  him,  if  anything  at  all  has  ; 
and  all  the  latter  part  has  been  of  a  sort  to  do  him  the 
highest  honour.  Both  the  court  of  Vienna  and  the 
Austrian  army  are  full  of  his  praises.  The  charges 
against  Lord  Howe  are  so  perfectly  senseless,  that  one 
wonders  how  rational  creatures  can  be  found  to  utter  them. 
I  wish  your  correspondent,  who  thinks  that  Lord  Howe  is 
so  careful  of  himself,  was  bound  to  stand  by  Lord  Howe 
in  all  the  danger  to  which  he  would  be  willing  to  expose 
himself.  If  I  were  to  guess  at  your  correspondent  from 
his  language  on  this  occasion,  I  should  set  him  down  as 
some  Tory  clergyman,  who  had  learnt  to  abuse  the 
Howes  because  they  did  not  conquer  America.  Pray 
let  me  know  if  I  am  right. 

I  was  going  to  say  that  I  had  nothing  more  to  say, 
but  I  have  upon  recollection  what  I  should  be  sorry  to 
omit.  It  is  to  recommend  a  book,  which,  for  soundness 
of  thinking  as  well  as  eloquence  of  stile,  has  had  no 
fellows  since  the  commencement  of  the  controversy 
about  the  French  Revolution.  It  is  of  great  bulk,  and 
has  a  great  deal  of  foppery  in  it,  enough  to  destroy  a  work 
of  less  powerful  merits.  But  it  is  full  of  proofs  of  the 
most  uncommon  genius,  and  has  a  charm  and  grace  in  the 
midst  of  its  fopperies  that  has  led  me  on  like  a  novel,  and 
puts  me  in  mind,  in  some  respects,  of  the  attraction  which 
every  one  finds  in  Montaigne.  It  is  written  by  a  Mr. 
Wylde,  an  advocate  of  Edinburgh,  and  a  friend  of 
Mackintosh  ;  but  a  man  of  m.ore  genius  and  of  not  less 
acuteness  ;  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  being  a  better  man, 

I  N 


194  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1793 

and  that  conviction  of  the  author's  character  is  one  of  the 
graces  of  his  book.  The  Jacobins,  who  may  laugh  at  it, 
can  neither  answer  it  nor  equal  it. 

FareweU  !  till  we  meet.  The  hour  of  attack  approaches, 
and  I  am  beginning  to  throw  off  my  weeds  of  peace,  and 
furbish  up  my  armour.  I  am  luckily,  too,  at  present  in 
much  better  health  than  I  have  been  through  the  greatest 
part  of  the  summer.^ 

1  The  Crewe  Papers  :  Windham  Section,  p.  23  {"  Miscellanies"  of  the 
Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 


SECTION  IV 

SECRETARY-AT-WAR  IN  THE 
PITT  ADMINISTRATION, 

1794-1801 


SECTION  IV 

SECRETARY- AT-WAR  IN  THE  PITT 
ADMINISTRATION,  1794-1801 

CHAPTER  I 
1794 

The  state  of  parties  :  Windham's  position  among  the  leaders 
of  the  Opposition  :  His  personal  charm  :  His  merits  and 
defects  as  a  speaker  :  The  Duke  of  Portland  clearly  defines  his 
position  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  :  His  reluctance  to  accept 
ofifice  under  Pitt  :  The  Norfolk  Militia  :  The  Emigrant  Bill: 
Martinico  :  The  acquittal  of  Warren  Hastings  :  The  managers 
of  the  trial  thanked  by  the  House  of  Commons  :  The  retire- 
ment of  Burke  from  the  Parliament  :  He  is  granted  a  pension  : 
His  wish  for  a  peerage  :  The  coalition  of  the  Portland  party 
with  the  Government  :  The  Duke,  Lord  Spencer,  and  Lord 
Fitzwilliam  accept  office  :  Windham  becomes  Secretary-at-War 
with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  :  Irish  affairs  :  Lord  Spencer's 
mission  to  Vienna  :  Sir  Sidney  Smith's  plan  of  attack  on  the 
French  fleet  :  His  dissatisfaction  with  the  treatment  he  has 
received  at  the  hand  of  his  country  :  The  Prince  of  Coburg 
resigns  the  command  of  the  Austrian  army  :  He  is  succeeded 
by  General  Clerfayt  :  The  loss  of  Valenciennes  and  Conde  : 
Windham  goes  abroad,  and  stays  at  the  head-quarters  of  the 
English  army  :  The  operations  on  the  Scheldt  :  Windham,  in 
a  private  letter  to  Pitt,  recommends  the  removal  of  the  Duke 
of  York  from  the  command  of  the  British  army  abroad  :  The 
delicacy  of  the  position  :  Pitt's  embarrassment  :  The  contro- 
versy concerning  the  appointment  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam  to  the 
viceroyalty  of  Ireland  :  The  Duke  of  Portland  and  his  friends 
threaten  to  resign  :  Pitt  at  last  consents  to  make  the  appoint- 
ment. 

THE  political  situation  has  already  been  defined 
in  the  foregoing  letters.     The  breach  between 
the  followers  of  Fox  and  those  of  the  Duke  of 
Portland  had,  naturally,  weakened  the  Opposi- 
tion.    On  the  other  hand,  the  Government  was  far  from 

197 


198  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

strong,  and  Pitt  was  desirous  to  strengthen  it  by  a  coalition 
with  the  Portland  party  ;  but  the  Duke  of  Portland,  while 
well  aware  of  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  considering 
it  his  duty  to  support  the  measures  introduced  to  allay 
the  unrest  produced  in  this  country  by  the  spirit  of  the 
French  Revolution,  was  unwilling  to  take  office  under 
Pitt. 

Windham  now  occupied  a  position  of  no  little  import- 
ance among  the  leaders  of  his  party.  It  is  a  little  difficult 
to  understand  how,  within  eight  years  of  his  taking  his 
seat  in  Parliament,  he  was  within  an  ace  of  becoming  the 
head  of  the  Opposition  (as  he  confessed  he  might  have 
done,  had  he  been  ambitious)  when  the  dissension  between 
Fox  and  Portland  was  in  danger  of  destroying  it  altogether 
as  a  striking  force. 

The  position  he  thus  early  secured  was,  apparently, 
less  the  result  of  great  parliamentary  talents  than  of 
personal  popularity  and  the  respect  in  which  he  was  held . 
As  a  friend  of  Fox  and  Burke,  he  had,  of  course,  been 
a  marked  man  from  the  time  he  took  his  seat  as  member 
for  Norwich,  and  these  men  had  naturally  put  him  in  the 
way  of  making  himself  a  power  in  the  House.  With  this 
excellent  start,  he  had  done  the  rest  himself,  and  without 
apparent  effort.  He  was  not  a  great  orator,  and  he  had 
the  defect  of  a  somewhat  shrill  voice  that  did  not  carry 
far;  but  on  all  the  subjects  that  he  took  for  his  own  he 
spoke  well.  "  In  his  parliamentary  speeches  his  principal 
object  always  was  to  convince  the  understanding  by 
irrefragable  argument,  which  he  at  the  same  time  en- 
livened with  a  profusion  of  imagery,  drawn  sometimes 
from  the  most  abstruse  parts  of  science,  but  oftener  from 
the  most  familiar  objects  of  common  life.  .  .  .  His 
language,   both   in   writing  and   speaking,    was   always 


1794]     NOT  "  A  THOROUGH  PARTY-MAN  "        199 

simple,  and  he  was  always  fond  of  idiomatic  phrases, 
which  he  thought  contributed  greatly  to  preserve  the 
purity  of  our  language."  ^  Thus  wrote  Malone,  who, 
is,  however,  careful  to  add  that  Windham  was  never 
"what  is  called  a  thorough  party-man."  This  last, 
regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  parliamentary  leaders, 
was  a  sad  defect  ;  but  Windham  was  never  disloyal  to  his 
political  associates,  though  at  times  rather  a  dangerous 
as  well  as  a  candid  friend.  To  all  affairs,  whether  of  public 
or  private  life,  he  brought  a  chivalrous  sense  of  honour, 
and  when  he  changed  his  views,  as  change  them  he  did  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  no  one  ever  doubted  his  sincerity. 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

Biilstrode  :  January  11,  1794 

When  I  look  at  the  date  of  your  Letter  and  recollect 
the  sort  of  engagement  I  entered  into  at  the  time  I  re- 
turned you  my  thanks  for  it ,  I  feel  it  quite  impossible  to 
attempt  to  justify  my  silence.  It  is  very  certain  that  the 
subject,  on  which  I  undertook  to  give  you  my  sentiments 
more  at  length,  abounds  with  so  many  unpleasant  vexa- 
tions and  distressing  considerations  that  I  can  not  but  say  I 
was  always  ready  to  avail  myself  of  a  pretext  to  la}^  it 
aside  ;  and  I  will  say  with  no  less  truth,  that  although  the 
temper  and  habit  of  your  mind  appeared  to  me  necessarily 
to  suggest  to  you  many  questions  and  many  uses  of  con- 
science respecting  our  publick  conduct,  the  line  which 
it  became  and  behoved  us  to  follow  in  the  present  crisis 
seemed  to  me  so  plain  and  distinct,  that  even  the  jealousy 
of  my  friendship  for  you  did  not  give  me  a  minute's  appre- 
hension of  any  difference  in  our  ultimate  decision. 

After  all  that  has  been  said  and  written  upon  the 
subject,  the  question  for  our  present  determination 
reduces  itself  to  the  consideration  of  what  our  Duty  to 

^  Gentleman' s  Magaxine,  June  1810,  xxx,  590: 


200  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

the  Publick  requires  us  to  do  as  Whigs,  that  is;  as 
members  of  a  Party,  or,  as  unconnected  Individuals — 
or,  in  other  words,  what  are  the  most  effectual  means 
that  can  be  taken  by  US  for  the  support  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  Constitution  of  our  Country,  and  the  general 
preservation  and  maintenance  of  Religion,  Law,  Good 
Order,  in  short,  of  the  principles  and  purposes  of  Civil 
Society. 

I  know  it  has  been  very  strongly  urged,  and  by  some 
for  whose  judgement  and  disinterestedness  I  have  the 
highest  respect,  that  our  Duty  calls  upon  us  at  this 
moment  not  only  to  cooperate  or  act  in  conjunction  with 
ministers,  but  to  make  so  perfectly  a  common  cause  with 
them  as  to  become  members  of  their  Administration  by 
accepting  certain  offices  which  there  is  very  good  reason 
to  believe  are  ready  to  be  offered  to  us.  That  every 
mode  of  support  other  than  this  demonstrates  a  distrust 
and  diffidence  on  the  part  of  the  Giver,  which  cannot  but 
be  injurious  to  the  existing  Government,  be  the  hands 
what  they  may,  by  which  it  is  administered  :  that  support 
to  be  effectual  must  be  given  completely  and  indiscrimi- 
nately, and  cannot  be  dealt  out  by  apportionment  or 
measure  ;  that  if  given  partially,  it  betrays  an  undecision 
and  unsteadiness  of  character  in  the  Givers,  which  in  as 
much  as  it  is  prejudicial  to  them,  equally  diminishes  and 
weakens  the  effect,  even  of  that  portion  of  assistance 
which  it  is  intended  to  be  Given,  so  as  to  render  it  doubt- 
ful whether  it  is  not  rather  of  disservice  than  of  any 
ability  or  benefit  to  the  Publick.  This  subject  has  also  been 
treated  with  ridicule  as  well  as  with  good  and  powerful 
arguments,  but  it  is  an  abuse  of  your  time  to  take  more 
notice  of  them,  knowing  as  I  do  that  there  is  not  a  medium 
through  which  this  subject  would  be  seen  in  which  it  has 
not  been  prescribed  to  your  view,  that  friendship,  affec- 
tion, partialit}^  admiration  for  you,  Integrity  and 
artifice  have  all  been  exerted  to  the  utmost  to  induce  you 
to  adopt  this  opinion  ;    and  I  only  state  them  to  show 


1794]  THE  WHIG  PARTY  201 

you,  that  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  arguments  which 
have  been  used  on  this  side  of  the  question. 

As  I  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  believing  that 
certain  obligations  or  conditions  or  Duties  are  respectively 
attached  to  every  station  or  rank  of  life,  I  have  no  difficulty 
in  admitting  that  the  acceptance  of  office  under  certain 
conditions  is  one  of  those  to  which  persons  of  our  de- 
scription are  liable ;  but  then  I  contend  that  the  judge- 
ment of  those  conditions,  under,  what  I  shall  call,  his 
innate  responsibility  rests  with  every  individual.  I  am 
also  decidedly  of  opinion  that  the  existence  of  a  Whig 
Party  is  essential  to  the  well  being  of  this  Country,  as 
well  as  to  the  preservation  of  its  Constitution,  and  allow 
me,  m}^  dear  Windham,  when  the  name  of  Whig  has  been 
so  prostituted  and  counterfeited,  as  we  have  seen  it,  to 
deposit  with  you  in  a  very  few  words  my  definition  of 
the  Whig  Party,  which  I  have  always  understood  to  be  : 
an  Union  of  any  number  of  persons  of  independent  minds 
and  fortunes  formed  and  connected  together  by  their 
belief  in  the  principles  upon  which  the  Revolution  of  1688 
was  founded  and  perfected  ;  and  by  the  attachment  to 
the  present  form  of  our  Government  to  all  its  Establish- 
ments and  Orders  Religious  and  Civil ;  and  the  test  of 
whose  conduct  as  a  Party,  must  consist  in  their  never 
supporting,  proposing  or  resisting,  any  measure,  in  or  out 
of  Parliament,  to  which,  if  they  were  possessed  of  power, 
if  they  were  the  Ministers  of  the  Country,  they  would 
not  give  equally  the  same  treatment. 

Considering  these  positions  as  the  standard  or  scale  by 
which  I  am  to  try  the  propriety  of  the  Conduct  I  am  to 
hold  upon  all  publick  occasions,  it  is  certainly  not  from 
envy  and  I  hope  as  little  from  resentment  that  I  feel 
myself  under  the  necessity  of  adverting  to  the  present 
Administration .  Whenever  I  have  thought  their  measures 
right  I  have  supported  them,  and  as  often  as  I  think  so 
I  will  support  them,  in  the  Conduct  of  the  present  War. 
Though  there  are  years  in  which  I  ma}^  have  thought  them 


202  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

injudicious,  and  some  which  have  been  unfortunate,  they 
will  not,  in  the  present  moment,  be  arraigned  or  blamed 
by  me  ;  nor  shall  any  encouragement  be  wanting  on 
my  part  to  bring  the  War  to  a  successful,  a  safe  and 
honorable  termination.  I  shall  advert  to  the  conduct  of 
the  present  Administration  no  further,  nor  desire  the 
principles  of  their  formation  or  conduct  to  be  remembered, 
no  otherwise,  than  as  they  may  be  necessary  to  justify 
the  opinion  I  mean  to  submit  to  5^ou.  It  will  not  be 
denied  to  me  that  the  characteristick  feature  of  the 
present  Reign  has  been  its  uniform  and  almost  un- 
remitting attention  and  study  to  debase  and  vilify  the 
natural  aristocracy  of  the  Country,  and,  under  the  proper 
pretence  of  abolishing  all  party  distinctions,  to  annihilate, 
if  possible,  The  Wliig  Part3^  For  these  express  purposes 
the  present  Ministry  was  formed  ;  and  that  they  have  most 
religiously  adhered  to  and  most  exemplarily  fulfilled  the 
purposes  of  their  creation  every  year  of  their  existence 
would  furnish  us  with  abundant  instances ;  but  this 
conduct  at  the  time  of  the  Regency  would  of  itself  be 
sufficient  and  I  would  be  satisfied  to  confine  myself  to 
that  measure  only,  could  I  forget  what  passed  no  longer 
ago  than  the  latter  end  of  the  last  Session  with  regard  to 
the  Election  of  the  16  Peers  of  Scotland.  But  to  com- 
press what  occurs  to  me  upon  this  subject  into  the  smallest 
possible  compass,  I  will  not  insist  at  all  upon  the  objec- 
tions which  arise  out  of  the  circumstances  I  have  just 
alluded  to,  and  I  will  endeavour  in  the  further  considera- 
tion of  this  question  to  make  the  interest  of  the  publick 
the  main  and  sole  ground  upon  which  my  opinion  shall  be 
formed. 

If  the  case  could  permit  of  anj^  exception,  I  should 
insist  that  there  never  was  a  crisis,  in  which  it  was  of  so 
much  importance,  as  the  present,  that  the  Character  of 
those,  who  are  admitted  to  responsible  situations  in 
Government  should  be  exempt  from  all  suspicion  of  being 
influenced  by  motives  of  interest,  that,  considering  the 


1794]  LORD  THURLOW  RESIGNS  203 

predicament  in  which  we  have  so  long  stood  in  opposition 
or  contradistinction  to  the  present  Ministers,  it  would  be 
almost  impossible,  for  any  of  us,  under  any  circumstances 
which  have  as  yet  come  to  my  knowledge  to  accede  to; 
and  suffer  ourselves  to,  be  incorporated  into  the  present 
Administration  without  making  ourselves  obnoxious  to 
such  suspicions ;  from  whence  I  conclude,  that  it  is 
inconsistent  with  the  uniform  tenor  of  our  Conduct  and 
incompatible  with  our  duty  to  the  Publick  to  accept  any 
offer  which  there  is  any  reason  to  imagine  will  be  made  to 
us.  The  conversations  which  passed  about  the  time  of 
the  late  Chancellor's  ^  removal  from  His  Office,  the  Glass 
which  Lord  Loughborough  was  desired  by  Dundas  and 
authorised  by  Pitt,  to  hold  up  to  us,  the  overtures  which 
have  been  since  made  to  you,  and  the  intimation  of  such 
a  weight,  of  so  many  seats,  in  Cabinet  as  might  be  suffi- 
cient to  ensure  an  honourable  support  to  Lord  S[pencer] 
if  he  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  undertake  the  Lieu- 
tenancy of  Ireland  are  proofs  to  demonstration  to  me, 
that  no  intention  has  ever  been  entertained  or  perhaps 
conceived  of  forming  an  Administration  upon  such  a 
Basis  as  would  comprehend  the  collective  strength  of  the 
Country  ;  that  the  ideas  of  strengthening  Government 
have  not  originated  out  of  a  wish  or  hope  of  Union,  but; 
as  I  fear,  out  of  a  desire  to  take  advantage  of  the  differences 
which  have  unhappily  arisen  among  us,  and  with  a  view 
to  make  those  divisions,  which  have  been  the  consequence 
of  them,  irreconcilable  and  irreparable.  This  at  least  has 
been  evidently  the  object  of  all  the  new  Proselytes. 
When  a  conduct  has  been  pursued  so  very  reverse  from 
that  which  I  should  have  thought  the  peculiarity  and 
magnitude  of  the  present  Crisis  required,  and  which  the 
Duty  of  Persons  in  Ministerial  situations  imposed  upon 
them,  I  own  myself  at  a  loss  to  give  them  credit  for  that 
sincerity  or  for  any  one  of  those   motives   which   will 

1  Lord  Thurlow  was  succeeded  as  Lord  Chancellor  by  Lord  Lough- 
borough. January  1793. 


204  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

warrant  me  to  suppose  that  any  such  indination  has 
ever  been  felt  by  Pitt  as  can  secure  Us,  were  We  to  con- 
sent to  Hsten  to  his  overtures,  from  the  reproach  of  having 
made  a  sacrifice  of  our  principles,  or  can  give  us  ad- 
mission to  the  publick  service  in  such  a  way  as  to  ensure 
to  Government  the  full  benefit  of  the  Influence  We  derive 
from  our  characters.   If  it  was  worth  while  to  advert  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  offer  of  the  Marquisate  of  Rocking- 
ham to  Lord  Fitzwilliam  and  of  the  Garter  to  myself, 
there  would  appear  in  these  trifles  a  want  of  sincerity,  so 
perfectly  unnecessary  that  one  cannot  help  wondering 
at — ^but  which  it  can  not  help  discovering  itself  on  such 
very  trivial  occasions.    You  will  allow  that  it  must  create 
an  impression  not  very  favorable  to  the  idea  of  trusting 
what  ought  to  be  most  dear  to  one,  to  the  keeping  of  so 
inattentive   and   careless   a    Manager.      So   much   then 
for  the  sincerity  which  We  are  to  look  for  in  these  offers, 
one  word  now  for  the  Candor,  and  to  you  and  me,  who 
each  of  us  know  a  little  of  Ireland,  it  requires  a  measure 
of  Zeal  for  the  publick  service  which  I  confess  I  am  not 
possessed  of,  to  admit  the  state  of  that  country  to  be 
brought  forward,  to  be  set  in  the  front  of  aU  their  argu- 
ments by  the  present  Ministers  as  the  inducement,  the 
justification,  the  unanswerable  reason  for  our  inlisting  into 
their  Corps,  for  our  not   hesitating  to  accede  to   their 
administration  :   and  is  it  impossible  to  refuse  one's  hand 
to  Sylvester  Douglas  ^  and  declare  the  honor  of  being 
led  by  him  through  ranks  of  Renunciation,  Commercial 
Propositions,    Regency    Measures,    encouragements    and 
discouragements  to  Catholics,  and  Reformers,  alternate 
submissions  and  resistances,  new  Jobs,  new  Boards,  and 
the  whole  Battle  array  of  temporary  expedients  to  the 
Head  of  the  Council  Table  in  Ireland  ?    But  here  I  will 
leave  this  part  of  the  subject,  a  very  serious  and  impor- 
tant one  most  assuredly,  and  one,  which  in  my  more 

1  Sylvester  Douglas  (1743-1823),  Member  of  the  Irish  Parliament, 
afterwards  created  Baron  Glenbervie. 


1794]  A  TRIBUTE  TO  THE  WHIGS  205 

enthusiastic  moments,  I  have  looked  to  as  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  certain  instruments  by  which,  it  might 
be  hoped,  that,  the  salvation  of  this  Country  as  well  as 
that,  might  be  permanently  effected.  But  in  considering 
the  question  of  our  acceding  to  the  present  administration, 
it  is  not  the  expediency  or  prosperity  of  the  measure  as  it 
concerns  any  of  us  personally  that  I  trouble  my  head 
about  :  it  is  solely  the  effect  which  it  would  have  upon  the 
publick  mind,  and  its  tendency  through  that  Organ  to 
render  Government  more  or  less  respectable,  concerning 
which  I  feel  any  way  interested.  It  must  be  allowed  that 
there  are  several  persons  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Opposition  or  Whig  Party  who,  from  the  responsibility 
of  their  characters,  possess  a  considerable  share  of  the 
good  opinion  and  esteem  of  the  Publick.  Some  of  them 
certainly  owe  this  to  their  Talents  and  Abilities,  but  all  of 
them  are  at  least  as  much  indebted  for  it  to  the  ingenuous- 
ness, the  integrity,  and  disinterestedness  of  their  Conduct. 
As  long  as  they  preserve  this  title  to  the  publick  esteem,  so 
long  will  they  have  it  in  their  power  either  as  Individuals 
or  as  Party  men  to  give  very  great  assistance  and  strength 
to  Government  by  their  avowed  sanction  and  support 
of  the  measures  which  Ministers  may  have  formed  in 
their  private  Situations  ;  they  can  give  energy  to  measures 
which  want  force ;  they  can  Control  and  suppress  others 
before  they  can  have  risen  to  a  state  to  be  obnoxious, 
they  can  in  many  cases  counteract  popular  prejudices, 
and  engage  and  insure  popular  favor,  from  the  confidence 
they  possess  from  the  supposition  of  any  jealousy  or 
suspicion  attaching  to  them,  they  can  give  the  tone  to  the 
publick  mind,  and  very  nearly  be  able  to  place  every 
measure  of  administration  in  the  light  in  which  they  wish 
to  be  seen.  But  let  them  accede  to  the  present 
administration,  let  them  take  offices  under  Mr.  Pitt,  and 
from  that  moment  their  weight,  their  consideration,  their 
very  names  are  lost.  Will  it  ever  from  that  moment  be 
a  question  what  may  be  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Windham,  Lord 


2o6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Spencer,  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  or  any  other  person  of  that 
description  ?  Wliether  suspicion  or  distrust  shall  follow 
that  step,  I  don't  here  inquire — I  will  even  suppose  that 
the  publick  will  do  you  all  perfect  justice — But  You 
become  involved  in  the  mass  of  administration,  you 
become  the  adherents  and  followers  of  Pitt.  You  may  be 
of  some  use  in  Council,  but  your  Station  in  publick  opinion 
is  gone,  it  is  lost,  and,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  can 
not  in  the  present  moment  be  compensated  by  any  good 
which  may  be  done  by  your  obtaining  Seats  in  the  Cabinet. 
As  upon  the  Party,  the  effects  of  this  conduct  can  not  but 
be  productive  of  very  material  injury  ;  and  to  one,  devoted 
to  Party  as  I  was,  for  the  reasons  which  I  have  stated  in 
the  former  part  of  this  Letter,  it  can  not  but  appear 
certain  to  produce  the  most  serious  injuries  to  the  interests 
of  the  Publick.  It  has  of  late  been  specially  convenient 
to  some  persons,  to  whom  it  has  at  other  times  been  as 
convenient  to  be  thought  to  be  attached  to  the  Whig 
Party,  to  suppose,  and  to  endeavour  to  make  it  generally 
believed,  that  the  Party  was  broken  to  pieces,  that  it 
was  dissolved,  that  it  had  not  any  longer  even  the  means 
of  existence  ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say,  but  with  too  much 
success.  But  according  to  my  ideas  of  several  of  those 
who  have  professed  themselves  members  of  it  according 
to  my  idea  of  its  vital  Principle,  I  shall  deny  the  possi- 
bility of  its  dissolution.  It  must  be  consistent  with  the 
principles  of  Right  and  Wrong.  That  it  has  suffered,  that 
some  of  its  most  precious  and  most  lovely  Ornaments  have 
been  torn  from  it,  I  admit  and  lament — ^the  wound  it  re- 
ceived last  year  in  one  of  its  most  capital  Branches,  is  an 
event  which  affects  me  with  the  deepest  concern  and 
affliction ;  that  no  support  can  be  now,  at  this  moment, 
expected  from  that  Branch  I  can  not  deny ;  but  let  us 
hope,  that  time  may  restore  it  to  its  Parent  Trunk,  and 
that  it  may  again  strengthen  and  invigorate  its  native 
Stock.  If  the  existence  of  a  Whig  Party  is  as  essential,  as 
I  contend  it  to  be,  to  the  well  being  and  prosperity  of  the 


1794]  DISSENSIONS  IN  THE  PARTY  207 

State  and  that  the  inhsting  with  the  present  Ministers 
is  productive  of  discredit  and  weakness  to  that  Party,  I 
conceive  that  it  can  not  well  be  denied,  under  the  actual 
circumstances  of  this  Country,  that  a  greater  injury  could 
befall  the  Cause  of  Government,  than  would  ensue  by  the 
principal  members  of  that  Party  being  induced  to  accept 
any  offers  which  can  be  held  out  to  them  by  the  present 
Ministry.  I  have  already  said  enough,  and  perhaps  more 
than  enough,  upon  this  subject;  and  yet  I  can  not  pass  over 
an  argument  arising,  as  I  understand,  out  of  the  plans  of 
the  present  opposition  and  the  irreconcileable  difference 
which  is  likely  to  continue  for  a  very  long  period  of  time 
between  us  and  that  description  of  persons.  Because  a 
certain  number  of  Gentlemen,  who  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  acting  with  us  for  several  years,  happen  now 
to  differ  from  us  so  essentially  upon  points  of  very  great 
and  high  moment  and  importance,  so  as  to  have  occasioned 
a  complete  separation  or  breach  between  us  ;  and  Be- 
cause upon  these  points  a  perfect  uniformity  of  sentiment 
and  Conduct  has  prevailed  between  the  Whigs  and  the 
present  Ministers,  it  is  urged  that  the  Whigs  ought  to 
accept  offices  (seats  in  the  Cabinet,  I  understand)  if  such 
should  be  offered  them  by  the  present  Ministers.  For 
my  own  part,  I  must  say  that  no  such  obligation  can  be 
admitted  by  me,  any  more  than  that  a  conclusion  is 
warranted  by  the  promises  I  have  stated.  I  should  easily 
conceive  a  proposal  on  the  part  of  administration  to  that 
effect  to  be  particularly  ill  timed  and  in  all  respects  very 
injudicious  and  ill  imagined.  It  would  seem  on  this  part 
an  admission  of  weakness  which  our  Conduct  is  intended 
to  render  unnecessary  and  would  be  a  disregard  or  aban- 
donment of  an  advantage  which  the  liberality  of  that 
conduct  would  alone  hold  out  to  them.  In  another 
light  it  can  not  be  considered  but  as  liable  to  particular 
objection  in  the  present  moment,  in  as  much  as  it  would 
subject  them  to  the  imputation  with  which  they  have 
been  so  often  charged,  of  avaihng  themselves  with  eager- 


208  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

ness  of  these  unhappy  differences  to  prejudice  the  cha- 
racters of  that  Party  and  of  those  very  persons  whom 
it  is  their  interest  to  hold  out  to  the  pubhck  view  as 
disposed  to  give  them  a  disinterested  and  consequently 
the  most  effectual  support.  So  far  with  respect  to  the 
offer,  now  as  to  the  acceptance  of  it ;  I  can  not  discover, 
with  all  the  attention  I  am  master  of,  any  one  induce- 
ment or  justification  which  this  unhappy  schism  affords 
for  it  :  in  my  view  of  it  (the  schism)  it  operates  the  direct 
contrary  way.  I  should  infer  that  it  rendered  it  necessary 
for  us  to  be  more  reserved  and  guarded  in  our  conduct 
towards  administration,  and  to  be  more  than  ordinarily 
cautious  in  not  giving  ground  for  suspicious  jealousies  of 
an  interested  nature.  That  it  being  but  too  probable  that 
opposition,  even  to  this  War,  would  not  be  an  unpopular 
conduct,  and  considering  of  whom  that  Opposition  would 
be  principally  composed,  comparisons  would  naturally 
be  made  of  their  conduct  with  that  of  the  Friends  they 
had  guided ;  and  that  this  consideration  ought  to  be  an 
additional  argument  against  our  listening  to  any  offer 
that  could  give  colour  to  suspicions  which  I  am  very  sure 
the  factious  spirit  which  animates  and  actuates  some 
of  those  who  compose  that  opposition  will  not  let  them 
be  backward  in  raising  and  propagating.  I  therefore 
must  be  allowed  to  say  that  to  the  best  of  my  poor  judge- 
ment I  can  not  but  rank  this  argument  on  the  side  of 
those  which  I  should  urge  for  depreciating  any  such 
offer  in  the  present  circumstances.  There  now  remains, 
as  I  believe,  and  as  you  must  hope,  only  one  more  subject 
for  consideration,  and  on  that  I  mean  to  say  but  a  very 
few  words,  as  I  conceive  I  have  already  in  a  great  measure, 
anticipated  what  would  be  applicable  to  it.  But  it  having 
been  asked,  if  a  sincere  disposition  to  form  an  administra- 
tion upon  what  we  consider  its  true  bottom  should 
reaUy  exist,  whether  it  should  be  frustrated  ?  I  will 
acknowledge  to  you,  to  whom  I  wish  to  speak  without 
any  reserve,  that  it  is  a  question  which  under  the  present 


1794]  A  RALLY  TO  GOVERNMENT  209 

circumstances  would  require  the  most  cool  and  serious 
consideration,  and  to  which  I  am  certainly  not  prepared 
to  give  an  answer.  It  does  not  however  seem  to  me  to  be 
an  embarrassment  of  which  we  are  immediately  likely  to 
feel  the  weight,  and  in  the  meantime  I  have  not  the  least 
hesitation  in  declaring,  that  considering  the  proofs  I  have 
had  of  the  sincerity  and  candour  of  the  present  Ministers, 
and  the  judgement  I  have  been  able  to  form  of  the  habits 
of  their  minds  and  their  general  track  of  sentiments,  it  is 
my  clear  and  decided  opinion  that  the  disposition,  such 
as  it  appears  to  me,  ought  most  certainly  to  be  frustrated, 
and  if  possible  the  idea  of  it  not  suffered  to  exist,  because 
it  seems  to  me  incapable  of  producing  any  other  effects, 
than  the  ruin  of  those  who  suffer  themselves  to  be 
deluded  by  it,  the  inflicting  a  deeper  wound  on  the  cause 
of  Whiggism  than  it  has  ever  yet  suffered,  and  pre- 
paring a  severer  blow  for  the  cause  of  Government  than 
it  has  yet  been  exposed  to. 

You  are  now  possessed  of  my  sentiments  respecting  the 
conduct  which  it  appears  to  me  it  would  become  us  to 
hold  in  the  present  crisis.  I  have  laid  them  very  fully  before 
you,  and  without  any  reserve.  Should  they  be  fortunate 
enough  to  meet  your  concurrence,  and  that  of  any  other 
person  (I  mean  Lord  Spencer  in  particular)  or  persons  to 
whom  you  may  think  proper  to  communicate  them,  I 
shall  be  extremely  happy,  and  very  ready  to  concert  with 
you  the  best  means  of  giving  them  effect.  You  cannot 
be  more  anxious  than  I  am  to  give  the  most  effectual 
support  to  the  War,  to  reestablish  the  Reign  of  Order, 
and  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  Whiggism.  I  shall  be  in 
town  on  Tuesday,  and  hope  to  find  you  there. ^ 

Frederick  North  2  to  William  Windham 

January  28,  1794 

I  am  truly  sensible  of  your  kindness  in  communicating 

to  me  the  Step  you  have  taken  in  Regard  to  that  of 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  17. 

2  Frederick  North  (1766-1827),  afterwards  fifth  Earl  of  Guilford. 

I  O 


210  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Portland  and  rejoice  most  sincerely  in  its  Success. 
Though  I  have  no  personal  Connection  in  that  Quarter, 
the  being  able  to  form  an  independent  Party  under  so 
very  respectable  a  Head,  in  this  Critical  Moment,  is  what 
has  long  appeared  to  me  the  most  desireable  political 
Event  that  could  take  Place  ;  and  I  hope  that  Lord 
Spencer,  Charles  Townshend  and  Cholmondely  have 
already  told  you  how  much  I  wished  it,  though  I  doubted 
of  its  taking  Place.  At  present  I  wish  you  Joy  of  it  most 
sincerely,  and  request  you  to  believe  that  no  one  coin- 
cides with  you  more  sincerely  in  that  and  every  other 
Opinion,  than, 

My   dear   William, 
Your  most  affectionate  and  faithful  Servant, 

Frederick   North* 


William  Windham  to  Captain  Lukin 

Hill  Street,  March  22, 1794 

The  papers  of  yesterday  announced  your  return  to 
the  Downs  with  some  Danish  vessels;  arrested  in  con- 
sequence of  the  late  orders.  I  hope  it  may  turn  out  that 
they  will  be  made  prizes.  The  conduct  of  these  Swedes 
and  Danes  is  so  perfectly  rascally,  that  I  have  no  sort  of 
compassion  for  them,  and  none,  I  dare  say,  will  be  felt 
by  those  who  will  find  such  good  account  in  this  kind  of 
neutral  war.  The  only  danger  is,  that  they  may  be  driven 
at  last  to  join  themselves  openly  to  those  to  whom  they 
are  now  giving  every  kind  of  clandestine  assistance. 
Though  they  will  find  their  own  destruction  in  this,  they 
may,  in  the  main,  considerably  embarrass  our  operations. 

No  great  stroke  has  yet  been  struck  by  any  of  the 
armies  on  the  continent.  Our  campaign  here  too,  in  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,  is  pretty  quiet.  If  it  was  not  for 
the  trial  of  Mr.  Hastings,  and  the  delay  which  his  friends 
create,  by  insisting  on  the  presence  of  the  judges,  and 

1  Add.  MSS.  37874  f .  6. 


1794]  THE  DEFENCE  OF  ENGLAND  211 

adjourning  the  proceedings  in  consequence,  till  after  the 
circuit,  he  might  be  set  at  liberty  in  a  few  weeks  ;  and  I 
should  then  be  tempted  to  make  an  excursion  towards  the 
coast,  and  to  meet  you  probably  either  at  the  Downs  or 
at  Portsmouth. 

There  is  another  business  indeed  that  may  call  me 
towards  Norfolk.  With  a  view  to  the  possibility  of  a 
descent,  troops  of  different  sorts  are  proposed  to  be 
raised  in  aid  of  the  Militia  ;  one  class  of  which  will  be 
volunteer  cavalry,  composed  of  persons  who  arc  in  a 
state  to  furnish  their  own  horses,  and  till  they  are  called 
out  of  their  own  county  (which  is  to  be  only  in  the  case  of 
actual  invasion)  are  to  receive  no  pay,  nor  any  thing  from 
government,  but  their  saddles  and  arms.  What  think 
you  of  the  possibility  of  my  raising  a  troop  of  fifty  such 
persons,  including  such  as  part  of  those  concerned  may  be 
willing  to  hire  or  bring  with  them,  in  addition  to  them- 
selves ?  Should  the  occasion  not  arise  in  which  their 
services  will  be  really  wanted,  the  trouble  will  be  very 
little,  as  I  should  not  propose  their  meeting  more  than 
once  a  week  ;  and  the  expence  would  be  no  more  nor  so 
much  as  attends  their  weekly  meetings  at  market.  For 
a  uniform,  I  would  have  nothing  but  a  plain  coat,  such  as 
they  might  wear  at  other  times,  or  no  more  ornamented 
than  might  make  them  a  little  proud  of  it.  I  believe 
something  of  this  sort  I  must  attempt,  and  if  it  could  be 
settled  without  the  necessity  of  more  attention  on  my 
part  than  I  ought  to  allow  myself  to  spare  from  other 
objects,  I  should  not  dislike  to  have  such  a  troop  estab- 
lished under  my  direction. 

Mr.  Courtenay  (the  member)  who  dined  with  me 
yesterday,  shewed  me  a  letter  which  he  had  received 
from  a  Mr.  Hayes,  one  of  the  Lieutenants,  I  conceive, 
on  board  the  Boston,  in  which  an  interesting  account 
is  given  of  some  of  the  principal  circumstances  of 
the  action.  It  appears;  by  his  account,  that  the 
Boston  had  only  200  hands,  not  above  30  of  whom  had 


212  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

ever  before  been  on  board,  while  the  Ambuscade  had 
450.  This  difference  I  suppose  must  have  told  con- 
siderably :  much  more  than  the  difference  of  four  guns 
which  the  French  frigate  had  beyond  ours.  The  conduct 
of  one  of  the  Lieutenants,  Mr.  Kerr,  seems  to  have  been 
singularly  gallant.  He  staid  on  deck,  after  he  had 
received  a  cannister  shot  through  his  shoulder,  and  till 
a  splinter  striking  him  on  the  face  altogether  blinded  him. 
The  first  Lieutenant  too,  a  Mr.  Edwards,  though  wounded 
badly  in  the  hand,  came  up  again  after  the  Captain's 
death,  to  take  command  of  the  ship.  In  a  former  account, 
it  was  said,  I  think,  that  he  had  fainted  from  loss  of  blood. 
It  is  said  in  this  letter,  that  there  was  a  French  fleet  in 
sight  at  the  time  when  the  Boston  bore  up.-^ 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

London  :  April  16,  1794 

By  wishing  to  do  too  much  I  have  the  mortification  of 
having  done  nothing — ^to  own  the  Truth.  I  had  a  great 
desire  to  be  authorized  to  say  that  your  presence  would 
be  necessary  in  the  course  of  the  Emigrant  Bill,  and  for 
that  reason  postponed  my  thanks  and  congratulations 
which  I  have  the  most  satisfactory  assurances  are  both 
equally  and  most  amply  due  to  you  for  the  event  of 
Saturday  at  Norwich, — ^and  in  the  mean  time  the  Bill  has 
escaped,  notwithstanding  all  the  obstructions  with  which 
it  was  threatened,  and  will  get  into  our  House  to-day. 
From  what  I  hear  of  it,  you  have  had  a  very  great  loss 
indeed,  in  missing  Burke's  speech  upon  it  on  last  Friday. 
There  is  not  a  Jacobine  who  pretends  to  taste  who  dares 
for  his  own  sake  to  withhold  from  it  his  full  tribute  of 
applause,  and  I  understand  it  was  given  in  Burke's  best 
manner.  You  had  also  another  loss  of  a  similar  kind  in 
not  hearing  Lord  Mansfield  in  answer  to  Lord  Lauderdale's 
motion  for  overhauling  the  sentence  against  Muir  and 

^  Amyot,  "  Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  32 


1794]        SIR  CHARLES  GREY'S  SUCCESS  213 

Palmer.^  He  completely  overset  all  Lauderdale's  facts, 
his  Law,  his  arguments  and  his  Inferences,  and  the 
best  proof  I  can  give  you  of  its  effect  is  that  it  appeared 
to  be  spoken  Sisfast  as  any  one  could  wish  and  that  he  was, 
after  the  first  5  minutes,  as  completely  in  possession  of 
the  attention  of  his  audience  as  any  Speaker  ever  was  upon 
any  occasion. 

Accounts  have  been  received  to-day  from  Sir  Charles 
Grey,  dated  the  15th  March,  from  the  Camp  before 
Cape  Bourbon,  in  which  he  says  that  the  whole  Island 
of  Martinico  is  in  his  possession,  excepting  the  Forts 
Bourbon  and  Royal,  the  latter  it  was  in  his  power 
to  take  whenever  he  judged  it  necessary,  but  wishing  to 
preserve  the  former  he  should  be  sorry  to  be  obliged  to 
proceed  to  that  extremity — since  his  landing  he  has  lost 
in  killed  71  and  in  wounded  193 — ^and  3  missing.  I 
suppose  long  before  this  the  English  flag  flies  every  where 
in  that  Island.  Would  to  God  I  could  see  the  true  French 
Colours  hoisted  in  Nantes,  St.  Malo's,  or  in  any  town  in  old 
France.  This  wish  leads  me  naturally  to  represent  to 
you  that  during  your  absence  from  hence  the  poor 
Royalists  will  not  have  a  friend,  at  least  not  one  that  can 
say  a  word  for  them  to  Ministers,  or  who  can  support  the 
only  cause  that  can  be  successfuU,  for  sure  I  am  that 
neither  the  capture  of  Martinico  nor  of  all  the  French 
Possessions  in  the  W.  Indies  will  have  any  effect  here,  or 
do  one  hundredth  part  of  the  service  which  the  Common 
Cause  would  derive  from  the  real  French  Army  in  the 
Vendee.  Pray  hold  yourself  engaged  to  dine  with  me  the 
first  Trial  Day  [of  Warren  Hastings]  after  the  Holidays 
and  I  will  ask  some  true  Royalists  to  meet  you.  The 
Clock  strikes  six.^ 

*  Muirand  Palmer  sentenced  for  sedition.     S^i?  Howell's  State  Trials, 
xxiii,  1 17,  237. 

2  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  39. 


214  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Richard  Burke  to  William  Windham 

June  ig,  1794 
1  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  communication  of 
the  intentions  of  Government  with  regard  to  my  father, 
which,  as  far  as  the  pecuniary  consideration  goes,  are  fully 
adequate  to  my  wishes.-'  But  I  cannot  help  expressing 
my  surprise,  that  there  should  be  anything  like  a  demur 
with  regard  to  the  peerage.  It  is  not  that  I  lay  much 
stress  on  what  Sir  G.  Elliot  conveyed  to  him  from  the 
Ministers  on  that  subject.  I  think  his  pretensions  stand 
upon  grounds  much  stronger  than  any  promises  actual 
or  implied.  The  terms  used  to  Sir  G.  Elliot  might  have 
been  general,  tho'  he  seem'd  to  attach  a  particular  sense 
to  them.  They  were  certainly,  however,  not  such  as  to 
imply  that  the  Ministers  had  very  mean  ideas  with 
regard  to  my  father,  and  I  did  not  conceive  that  what  was 
considered  as  a  debt  due  from  the  country,  due  to  the 
opinion  of  Europe  at  large,  could  be  less  than  the  peerage. 
However,  it  is  for  the  Ministers  to  judge  what  they  will 
do  or  not  do.  It  is  a  matter  absolutely  in  their  own 
breasts.  It  would  be  as  ridiculous  for  my  father  at  this 
time  of  day  to  haggle  about  the  recompence  for  his  services, 
as  it  would  have  been  absurd  in  the  Ministers  to  chaffer 
with  him  about  the  price  before  those  services  were 
rendered  ;  services  which  if  the  effects  of  them  could 
have  been  foreseen  or  could  have  been  bargained  for 
(if  he  was  a  man  capable  of  bargaining)  I  do  not  believe 
any  rewards  the  country  has  to  bestow  would  have  been 
thought  too  much.     But  in  the  retrospect,  things  have 

^  Burke  on  June  i6  concluded  his  famous  nine  days'  speech,  wherein 
he  sought  to  justify  the  impeachment  of  Hastings.  Four  days  later  he 
and  the  other  managers  of  the  trial  received  the  thanks  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  At  the  prorogation  in  July  he  retired  from  Parliament. 
He  was  granted  a  Civil  List  pension  of  ;^I200  on  the  lives  of  himself  and 
his  wife,  and  a  few  months  later  Pitt  secured  him  a  further  annuity 
of  ;{2Soo.  Lord  FitzwiUiam  returned  his  old  friend's  son,  Richard,  the 
writer  of  the  above  letter,  for  the  borough  of  Malton. 


1794]  BURKE  DESIRES  A  PEERAGE  215 

a  different  appearance,  especially  when  impressions  are 
no  longer  fresh  and  when  the  man  is  going  off  the  stage 
and  can  be  of  use  no  farther.     It  is,  therefore,  not  un- 
natural that  difficulties  should  be  made.     I  confess  that 
if  the  thing  was  to  be  judged  of  in  the  abstract,  if  my 
mother  was  not  concerned,  and  if  the  arrangement  of  his 
affairs  did  not  imply  the  sale  of  his  place  in  the  country 
(in  which  so  much  of  his  as  well  as  my  mother's  satis- 
factions are  involved) ,  I  should  certainly  agree  with  you, 
that  it  would  be  more  becoming  the  place  and  character 
my  father  sustains  in  the  world — foregoing  all  expecta- 
tions from  the  public  to  cut  himself  down  to  the  measure 
of  his  means  (which,  however  moderate,  are  more  than 
human  necessities  require)  than  to  consent  to  have  his 
services,  which  now  stand  in  the  first  order,  set  down  by 
a  secondary  reward,  at  a  secondary  standard.     As  matters 
stand  however,  some  sacrifice  of  dignity  must  be  made 
to  ease.     And  tho'  I  think  he  might  expect  an  otium 
cum  dignitate  and  that  the  peerage  is  not  more  than  his 
due  and,  if  I  may  say,  the  specific  reward  appropriate  to 
his  peculiar  services.  Yet  if   the  Ministers    think  other- 
wise and  think  that  services  like  his  can  be  paid  in  money 
— ^as  far  as  my  vote  goes,  I  shall  advise  him  to  submit; 
and  I  see  nothing  else  for  him  to  do,  but  to  take  what  is 
given  him  with  thankfulness,  and  with  as  good  a  grace  as 
he  can. 

I  cannot  think  that  the  Ministers  have  sufficiently  con- 
sidered or  that  it  can  be  their  intention  that  what  they 
do  should  lose  so  much  of  its  grace  and  effect  with  regard 
to  the  public,  by  what  they  withhold  ;  or  that  they  have 
reflected  what  will  be  thought  when  it  comes  to  be  known 
that  this  was  an  object  to  my  father  and  that  it  was 
refused  on  any  grounds  whatever.  If  they  do  not  give 
it  to  him,  for  God's  sake  for  what  kind  of  services  is  it 
reserved,  unless  it  is  determined  that  it  should  never  be 
given  to  civil  service,  or  only  follow  in  the  common  line  of 
official  promotion  ?     Who  do  they  mean  to  make  peers 


2i6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

in  future  ?  I  say  nothing  with  regard  to  the  past,  tho'  I 
beHeve  some  might  be  found  on  the  Hst  whose  services 
are  not  more  brilHant  or  their  fortune  more  ample  than 
his.  Indeed;  if  it  was  a  subject  fit  for  me  to  discuss,  I 
might  compare  his  services  for  effect  and  pubHc  benefit, 
with  those  of  any  single  man,  since  the  Restoration.  How- 
ever this  may  end,  I  shall  never  forget  your  active  friend- 
ship on  the  occasion.  And  depend  upon  it  that  he  is 
sufficiently  a  philosopher  not  only  to  bear  the  want  of 
any  reward  at  all,  but  perhaps  what  is  more  difficult 
cheerfully  to  acquiesce  in  that  which  does  not  come  to 
his  ideas. ^ 


The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

July  3,  1794 
My  company  had  separated  just  before  your  letter 
arrived,  as  you  may  probably  know  already,  by  having 
seen  Lord  Spencer  and  Grenville  who  intended  to  call 
upon  you  in  their  way  home.  I  now  regret  your  absence 
much  more  than  I  could  have  imagined  I  could  have  had 
any  reason  to  do,  because,  from  what  I  learn'd  from  Gren- 
ville, I  concluded  that  your  mind  was  made  up  to  become 
a  member  of  Cabinet  and  that  the  mode  was  become  to  you 
a  very  secondary  consideration.  1  can  not  but  wish 
you  to  reconsider  this  question  and  to  recollect  that  I 
may  be  under  the  necessity  of  bringing  your  doubts 
forward  to-morrow  in  a  place  where  I  should  be  very 
sorry  that  any  ground  could  be  given  for  suspicion  or 
apprehension  of  backwardness  in  any,  and  more  particu- 
larly in  so  conspicuous  a  Leader  on  our  side  as  you 
certainly  are.  It  would  be  idle  to  attempt  to  refute 
arguments  of  which  I  am  ignorant.     But  I  can  not  help 

^  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  41.  It  was  decided  to  make  Burke  a  peer. 
The  title  was  to  be  Lord  Beaconsfield,  and  an  income  for  three  lives 
was  to  be  attached  to  it.  The  patent  was  being  prepared,  when  the 
death  of  Richard  Burke  on  August  2,  1794,  made  his  father  no  longer 
desirous  of  the  dignity 


1794]  WINDHAM  ACCEPTS  OFFICE  217 

asking  whether  the  Opponent  to  your  coming  into 
administration  considered  that  measure  in  its  bearings 
upon  the  general  credit  and  character  and  Interests  of 
the  Cause,  and  did  give  and  was  capable  of  giving  its  due 
weight  and  appretiating  the  difference  of  the  Office  of 
Secretary  of  War  as  merely  ministerial,  or  being  a  real 
efficient  Cabinet  employment,  upon  which  my  opinion  of 
the  propriety  of  your  acceptance  of  it,  principally,  if  not 
whoUy,  rests  and  depends.  There  are  persons  very  wise, 
and  virtuous  friends  of  ours,  and  most  active  and  zealous 
supporters  of  the  Cause  of  Government,  who  endeavoured 
to  make  Lord  Fitzwilliam  refuse  to  take  an  active  part  in 
administration.  But  they  could  not  succeed — and  I 
devoutly  pray  that  further  reflection  will  make  them 
equally  unsuccessful  in  your  case.-^ 


At  last  the  question  of  joining  the  Pitt  Administration 
was  settled,  to  the  great  relief  of  all  concerned.  "  The 
continuance  of  the  negotiation  occupied  a  good  deal  of 
my  time  and  thoughts,  and  prevented  my  engaging  in 
any  regular  employment,"  Windham  wrote  on  July  2, 
in  his  Diary.  Neither  the  Duke  of  Portland  nor  Windham 
was  anxious  to  take  office,  and,  when  pressed  to  do  so, 
urged  that  they  could  give  greater  support  to  the  Govern- 
ment by  remaining  independent  members.  Burke,  how- 
ever, convinced  Windham  that  this  point  of  view  was 
erroneous,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  have  the  best  inten- 
tions in  the  world  without  the  power  to  give  them  effect. 

To  accommodate  the  members  of  the  Portland  party 
various  changes  had  to  be  made  in  the  Ministry.  The 
Duke  became  Secretarj^  of  State  for  the  Home  Department 
in  place  of  Dundas,  who  went  to  the  War  Offtce  ;  Lord 
Spencer  accepted,  for  the  time  being,  the  position  of  Lord 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  41. 


218  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  1794] 

Privy  Seal ;  and.  Lord  Camden  retiring,  Lord  Fitz- 
william  became  Lord  President;  on  the  understand- 
ing that  he  was  presently  to  be  appointed  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  A  Secretaryship  of  State  was 
at  first  proposed  for  Windham,  but,  to  facilitate  the 
Ministerial  arrangements,  he  took  the  place  of  Sir  George 
Yonge  (who  became  Master  of  the  Mint),  as  Secretary- 
at-War,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet.  His  patent  as 
Secretary-at-War,  countersigned  by  Dundas,  bears  the 
date  July  11,  1794.^  Five  days  later  he  was  sworn  in 
as  Privy  Councillor. 

It  may  here  be  mentioned  that  one  of  the  conditions 
imposed  upon  Pitt  by  the  Duke  of  Portland  was  an 
alteration  in  the  government  of  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the 
juncture  of  the  two  parties.  Lord  Westmorland  ^  was 
Lord-Lieutenant.  The  Duke  of  Portland  wished  to  go 
there  himself,  and  was  only  dissuaded,  with  great  diffi- 
culty, by  Lord  Mansfield  and  others, ^  who  pointed  out  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  take  responsible  office  in  the  Cabinet. 
The  Duke  then  decided  that  Lord  Fitzwilliam  must  go  to 
Ireland.  Though  Pitt  did  not  approve  this  choice,  he  did 
not  refuse  his  assent,  but  contented  himself  with  saying 
that  Fitzwilliam  could  not  be  appointed  until  a  suitable 
office  at  home  was  found  for  Westmorland.  Fitzwilliam 
at  once  began  his  preparations  for  his  new  position.  He 
communicated  with  Grattan  and  Ponsonby,  which 
indicated  that  under  his  administration  many  changes 

^  Having  accepted  of&ce,  Windham  had  to  offer  himself  for  re- 
election at  Norwich.  His  constituents  were  not  well  pleased  wth  the 
change  in  his  political  views,  and  Mingay,  a  lawyer,  who  offered  him- 
self as  a  candidate,  received  some  support.  Windham,  however,  was 
returned  to  Parliament. 

2  John  Fane,  tenth  Earl  of  Westmorland  (1759-1841). 

3  See  Lord  Mansfield's  letter,  October  12,  1794  (vol.  i.  p.  259  of 
this  work). 


1794]     THE  FITZWILLIAM  CONTROVERSY        219 

desired  by  the  Irish  would  be  made.  Fitzwilliam  did  not 
observe  or  enjoin  secrecy,  so  it  is  not  surprising  that  it 
was  generally  reported  in  the  summer  that  he  had 
already  been  appointed  Lord-Lieutenant.  The  state- 
ment was  accepted  as  authentic,  and  travelled  far, 
reaching  the  Duke  of  York  in  Flanders  at  the  end  of 
August.^  Pitt,  however,  was  in  no  hurry  to  remove 
Westmorland  ;  and  only  in  October,  when  the  Portland 
party  gave  him  the  choice  between  sending  Fitzwilliam 
to  Ireland,  and  their  resignation,  did  he  appoint  West- 
morland Master  of  the  Horse.  Fitzwilliam  then  became 
Lord-Lieutenant,  and  was  succeeded  as  Lord  President 
by  the  Earl  of  Mansfield. 

Dr.  Charles  Burney  to  William  Windham 

Churchfield,  Margate :  July  14,  1794 

The  Gazette,  which  announces  your  having  honoured 
Administration  by  joining  them,  has  just  reached  me  at 
Margate.  Amidst  the  congratulations,  with  which  you 
must  be  surrounded,  on  this  occasion,  permit  me  to 
venture  offering  mine  :  not,  however,  so  much  to  you, 
as  to  the  Country  ! 

You  have  accepted  a  Post : — the  honours  of  it  can- 
not greatly  have  influenced  you  : — ^the  emoluments  of  it 
cannot,  in  the  slightest  degree,  have  biassed  you. — Even 
those  justly  merited  honours  will  not  escape  the  breath 
of  slander  ;  and  those  emoluments  will  be  dearly  earned 
by  the  labours,  which  must  be  necessary  to  give  them 
security.  That  Amor  Patrice,  however,  which  has  in- 
spirited your  decision,  fails  not  in  conferring  a  due 
reward.  A  reward,  which  Treachery  cannot  violate, 
and  Wealth  cannot  purchase  ! 

Our  Country  has  insured  your  services  ; — ^Attacked  by 
an  infuriate  Enemy  abroad ;  endangered  by  an  insidious 

1  See  the  Duke  of  York's  letter  to  Windham,  August  31,  1794. 


220  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

foe  at  home ;  the  very  vitals  of  her  Constitution  under- 
mined, avowedly  by  one  Party,  and  secretly  by  another  ; 
united  with  allies,  lukewarm,  I  fear,  if  not  inclined  to 
treachery  : — ^to  our  Country  then  permit  me  to  offer  my 
congratulations  ! — To  our  Country,  which  can  still 
boast  herself  supported  by  the  'Oi  koXoi  koi  ayaOol,  and 
may  still  hope  to  be  preserved  by  the  exertions  of  talents 
scarcely  rivalled,  aided  by  virtues  undaunted,  and  integrity 
unimpeachable  ! 

Pardon  the  intrusion  ! — Your  engagements  must  be  too 
numerous  and  too  constant,  well  to  allow  it ; — but  as 
my  distance  from  town  prevents  my  wishing  you  joy  in 
person,  I  really  feel  too  strongly,  on  the  present  occasion, 
not  to  venture  taking  the  liberty  of  doing  it,  by  letter.^ 

H.R.H.  The  Duke  of  York  to  William  Windham 

Head  Quarters  at  Rosendael 
August  I,  1794 

I  have  many  thanks  to  return  you  for  your  most 
obliging  letter  which  was  delivered  to  me  by  Lord  Spencer, 
and  am  not  half  expressing  to  you  how  sincerely  happy 
I  am  at  you  and  your  friends  having  stood  forward  in 
so  Handsome  a  Manner,  and  accepted  office  and 
responsibility  at  a  moment  when  it  is  so  peculiarly 
necessary  to  strengthen  the  Hands  of  Governments. 
I  am  likewise  exceedingly  glad  that  everything  went  off 
so  well  at  Norwich. - 

I  am  exceedingly  impatient  to  hear  the  result  of  Lord 
Spencer's  negotiation .2  I  am  sure  it  can  not  be  in  better 
Hands,  and  I  never  saw  people  so  eager  so  anxious 
to  succeed  as  both  His  Lordship  and  Mr.  Grenville.  I 
confess  I  am  exceedingly  sanguine  in  my  expectations 
particularly  since  I  saw  the  day  before  yesterday  Letters 

1  Add.  MSS.  37914  f.  105. 

2  Windham  had  secured  re-election  as  member  for  Norwich. 

3  Lord  Spencer  had  gone  in  June  to  Vienna  as  Ambassador  Extra- 
ordinary.    He  returned  to  England  in  December. 


])R.   BURNEY 


I 


t 
I 
i 


1794]  LORD  SPENCER'S  MISSION  221 

from  the  Prince  of  Coburg  to  the  Hereditary  Prince  of 
Orange  written  quite  in  a  different  stile  from  one  which 
he  had  received  from  Him  only  two  days  before,  and 
holding  out  a  probability  of  His  moving  forwards  again 
soon  with  His  Army.^ 

Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

Vienna  :    August  12,  1794 

I  ought  to  have  written  to  you  a  long  while  ago,  but 
my  journey  so  entirely  turned  my  head,  and  the  occu- 
pation I  have  had  since  I  have  been  here  has  filled  up 
so  much  of  my  time  that  I  have  not  been  able  till  this 
moment ;  and  in  choosing  this  moment  for  the  purpose, 
I  do  not  treat  you  very  well,  for  I  am  more  than  half 
asleep,  having  been  the  whole  evening  plodding  over 
the  long  letter  ^  which  you  will  have  the  reading  of  from 
us  in  the  Cabinet,  which  will  very  probably  produce 
something  of  the  like  effect  on  the  Readers  as  it  has  on 
the  writers  of  it ;  at  least  I  am  sure  if  you  read  it  as  we 
wrote  it  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  it  cannot  fail 
to  do  so. 

You  will  see  by  the  contents  of  it  what  a  long  way  we 
are  come,  to  do,  as  far  as  it  seems,  very  little,  and  you  will 
not  fail,  I  dare  say,  to  observe  that,  as  we  have  been 
driving  for  nothing,  we  are  determined  you  shall  have 
at  least  a  long  reading  for  nothing.  However,  as  I  am 
sure  you  will  have  had  enough  of  our  dispatch  already, 
I  will  not  give  3^ou  a  bad  hash  of  it  in  my  letter. 

I  promised  Sir  Sidney  Smith,^  to  write  to  you  something 
about  what  he  calls  his  Ideas,  but  my  own  Ideas  have 

1  Add.  MSS.  37842  f.  67. 

2  Regarding  a  project  for  an  English  descent  upon  the  French  coast 
to  aid  the  Royahsts  against  the  Revolutionists,  which  was  to  end  in  the 
disastrous  Quiberon  Bay  expedition. 

3  William  Sidney  Smith,  generally  known  as  Sidney  Smith  (1764- 
1840),  entered  the  navy  1777,  and  fought  at  the  battle  of  St.  Vincent 
and  in  other  actions.  He  was  sent  home  with  despatches  after  the 
evacuation  of  Toulon  in  1793. 


222  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

really  been  so  turned  and  twisted  and  jumbled  about 
ever  since,  that  I  protest  his  have  been  pretty  nearly 
shaken  out  of  my  head  ;  in  general,  however,  I  re- 
member he  said  a  good  deal  about  the  French  coasting 
ships  which,  by  their  being  very  flat  bottomed,  can 
run  into  shoal  water  where  none  of  our  Ships-of-War 
can  follow  them,  and  of  course  he  is  very  desirous  of 
having  a  fleet  of  flat-bottomed  Vessels  at  his  Command 
to  go  and  break  them  all  to  pieces.  He  does  not  seem  to 
think  much  of  the  Scheme  about  Calais,  but  he  has  an 
Idea  that  something  might  be  done  at  Havre  ;  he  is 
certainly  an  odd  excentrick  man,  but  he  is  very  clever, 
and  has  a  great  deal  of  contrivance  about  him,  and  if  he 
could  any  how  be  put  into  activity  without  giving  offence 
to  more  regular  and  orderly  sort  of  Geniuses,  who  I  believe 
all  look  upon  him  as  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
does  upon  a  Quack  Doctor,  he  might  be  of  great  service. 

I  cannot  write  this  without  telling  how  very  much 
both  Lady  Spencer  and  myself  are  obliged  to  you  for 
your  very  kind  and  friendly  offer  which  she  tells  me  you 
made  her  the  other  day  of  an  Ensigncy  in  the  Guards  ; 
we  are  both  as  much  obliged  to  you  as  if  we  had  been  in  the 
way  of  availing  ourselves  of  it,  and  I  am  very  glad  it 
happened  so,  as  it  gave  3''ou  an  opportunity  of  multiplying 
your  satisfaction,  by  obliging  some  body  else  besides  us,  on 
the  occasion. 

Adieu,  dear  Windham,  I  wish  much  to  be  at  home 
again  and  among  you  all  :  I  feel  quite  out  of  my  Element 
here,  and  though  I  don't  know  how  much  I  might  be  in 
my  Element  if  I  were  at  home  in  my  new  situation  there; 
yet  I  cannot  help  thinking  I  should  be  rather  less  of  a 
Bear  in  a  Boat  than  I  feel  myself  in  this  still  newer 
Character  of  a  Negotiator.^ 

1  Add.  MSS   37845  f.  127. 


1794]  SIR  SIDNEY  SMITH'S  ADVICE  223 

Captain  Sir  W.  Sidney  Smith  to  William  Windham 
Private  Diamond,  at  Plymouth 

August  13,  1794 

Your  letter  of  the  3rd  inst.;  Franked  the  7th,  and  sent 
to  Deal,  has  followed  me  here.  Lord  Spencer  and  I  had 
some  conversation  on  the  subject  in  question  during  the 
passage  to  Holland  and  it  was  settled  that  I  should  com- 
municate the  purport  of  it,  direct  to  you,  on  my  return 
to  England.  The  Labour  of  beating  to  the  westward 
against  strong  contrary  winds  from  Flushing  to  Plymouth, 
and  the  necessary  repairs  of  the  Ship  since  my  arrival, 
have  so  taken  up  my  time  as  scarcely  to  allow  me  any 
for  rest  or  refreshment,  much  less  to  set  down  quietly 
and  give  you  a  digested  and  detailed  opinion  of  the 
Due  de  Levis's^  "crude"  proposition.  I  am  sorry  my 
distance  from  town  and  the  orders  I  am  under  to  go  to  sea 
immediately  will  prevent  my  having  an  opportunity  of 
making  the  communication  verbally. 

The  Due  de  Levis  called  on  me  (by  introduction  from 
Lord  Warwick),  I  believe  previous  to  his  waiting  on  you. 
I  gave  him  a  patient  hearing  and  think  with  you  that 
the  Idea  should  not  be  wholly  abandon'd,  though  it  may 
not  be  immediately  practicable  to  carry  it  into  effect  in 
the  mode  he  suggests. 

I  agree  with  him  entirely  that  the  best  way  of  acting 
against  France,  either  in  order  to  make  a  diversion  to 
save  Holland,  to  ward  off  a  threaten'd  attack  on  this 
country,  or  to  make  an  impression  on  the  centre  of  the 
enemy's  country  so  as  to  effectuate  the  great  object  of 
the  war,  is  by  a  descent  on  their  coasts.  The  point  of 
attack  must  depend  on  intelligence  to  be  obtained,  and 
the  extent  of  the  force  that  may  be  destined  to  carry  the 

1  Pierre  Marc  Garton,  Due  de  Levis  (died  1830),  left  Paris  in  1792 
and  joined  the  army  of  the  Princes,  in  which  he  served  as  a  private 
soldier.  He  was  wounded  in  the  Quiberon  expedition,  and  came  to 
England. 


224  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

plan  into  effect.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  coast  must  be 
destitute  of  suflQcient  strength  to  defend  it  by  the  con- 
centration of  their  forces  in  the  formation  of  their  great 
armies,  but  I  am  by  no  means  of  opinion  that  they  are 
so  Hable  to  be  surprised  as  the  Due  de  Levis  seems  to 
apprehend,  for  their  intelhgence  is  so  good  and  their 
estabHshment  of  coast  signals  is  so  perfectly  well 
arranged  and  so  well  attended  to  that  that  intelligence  is 
quickly  conveyed  from  one  point  to  another.  The  attempt 
might  be  made  to  surprise,  but  it  should  be  with  such  a 
force  as  would  be  equal  to  proceeding  by  open  assault 
when  discovered,  which  is  not  impracticable  on  the  very 
gates  of  a  place  inadequately  garrisoned  and  irregularly 
fortified  on  some  one  side. 

A  Ruler  laid  on  the  map,  from  London  to  Paris  shews 
the  strait  line  of  shortest  distance  to  be  by  way  of  Dieppe 
or  Havre  de  Grace  and  Rouen,  and  it  is  to  be  remember'd 
that  there  is  no  chain  of  fortified  places  requiring  regular 
sieges  by  that  route. 

Having  received  the  latter  part  of  my  education  at 
Caen  in  Normandy,  I  have  had  opportunity  of  being 
acquainted  with  the  Normans,  and  I  am  inclined  to  give 
credit  to  the  Due  de  Levis 's  assertion  that  Normandy  and 
the  Southern  part  of  Picardy  are  disaffected  to  the 
convention,  or  at  least  to  the  Jacobin  System  ;  and  conse- 
quently that  they  might  be  induced  to  shew  themselves 
if  a  sufficient  force  was  at  hand,  as  a  central  point  round 
which  to  rally ;  but  my  experience  at  Toulon  has  proved 
to  me  that  this  never  can  be  expected  if  the  white  flag  ^ 
is  shewn  to  them  as  an  earnest  of  the  return  of  the  antient 
System  in  its  full  extent.  A  Constitution  is  the  desire 
of  every  thinking  man  in  France,  I  am  persuaded  ;  they 
have  seen  the  bad  effects  of  unlimited  power  in  the  two 
extremes  of  absolute  and  popular  government  too  often 
and  too  recently  not  to  be  averse  to  placing  it  anywhere; 
and  cannot  (I  think)  be  inclined  to  place  it  in  the  same 

^  The  flag  of  the  deposed  French  monarchy. 


1794]  A  PLAN  OF  CAMPAIGN  225 

hands  who  misused  it  before;  and  who  would  be  hkcly  to 
govern  with  a  heavy  hand  in  revenge  for  the  persecution 
they  have  endured.  There  can  be  Httle  doubt  that  there 
exists  a  party  in  France,  and  even  in  Paris  itself,  of  the 
moderate  kind,  impatient  under  the  present  Tyranny 
which  puts  their  persons  and  property  in  such  an  irksome 
state  of  insecurity.  This  party  might  be  induced  to  shev/ 
itself  if  support  were  near,  and  such  support  cannot  be  so 
quickly  convey 'd  as  by  the  shortest  route  and  that  on  which 
there  are  the  fewest  barriers,  viz.  that  above  named. 

Calais  from  its  position  does  not  seem  to  come  into 
this  line,  or  to  be  of  any  use  as  an  insulated  possession 
now  that  the  Netherlands  are  evacuated.  Dieppe  and 
Havre  I  think  would  be  valuable  acquisitions.  An 
Army  on  the  two  Banks  of  the  River  Seine,  using  that 
river  as  its  line  of  communication,  having  its  baggage; 
battering  train  and  magazines  afloat  under  the  protection 
of  Gunboats  and  consequently  being  unencumbered  but 
with  horses  and  forage  might  move  with  facility  and  be 
less  liable  to  total  discomfiture  in  case  of  failure,  having 
a  floating  fortress  to  rally  to. 

I  am  persuaded  that  an  expedition  of  this  kind,  if  it  did 
not  succeed  to  the  full  extent  of  the  object,  might  still 
do  essential  service  ;  it  would  cut  off  one  channel  by 
which  Paris  is  supplied  with  provisions ;  it  would  enable 
government  to  form  a  positive  judgment  of  the  real 
disposition  of  the  people  and  finally  in  case  of  being 
obliged  to  fall  back  by  the  arrival  of  the  Northern  army 
on  the  East  bank  of  the  Seine,  the  [illegible]  would  afford 
our  army  a  secure  position  with  its  flanks  towards  the 
sea  communicating  on  each  side  with  its  floating  Magazines 
by  Carentan  and  La  Hogue  on  the  East,  and  the  little 
ports  opposite  Jersey  on  the  west,  Cherbourg  would 
by  this  position  be  cut  off  from  the  possibility  of  receiving 
succour  and  as  the  high  land  behind  the  town  overlooks 
it,  as  Faron  does  Toulon,  it  must  fall  in  the  same  way ; 
and  thus,  in  case  of  ultimate  relinquishment  of  the  enter- 

I  P 


226  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

prise,  we  should  have  destroy 'd  the  two  ports  of  Havre 
and  Cherbourg,  from  whence  we  have  otherwise  everything 
to  apprehend  if  the  enemy  are  left  quietly  at  liberty  to 
realise  their  project  of  invading  and  "  revolutionising  " 
this  country.  I  speak  from  local  knowledge  of  the  coasts 
and  ports  in  question,  having  examined  the  ground  at 
leisure  during  the  peace  when  on  a  visit  to  the  Due 
D'Harcourt,  then  Governor  of  Normand}^  and  I  recom- 
mend his  being  consulted  on  the  enterprise,  his  local  know- 
ledge and  military  experience,  together  with  his  name  and 
influence  in  the  country,  would  go  a  great  way  towards 
ensuring  the  success  of  it.  I  beg  to  be  understood  to  be 
very  far  from  volunteering  it  myself.  I  see  my  way 
clearl}^  but  I  do  not  see  my  means.  Long  legged  frigates 
cannot  approach  the  shore  to  cooperate  with  or  cover  an 
army.  Gun  boats  alone  can  do  it,  but  it  is  not  a  boat 
with  a  Gun  that  answers  to  my  Idea  of  a  Gun  boat.  I 
have  acquitted  my  conscience  towards  my  country  by 
having  given  my  Ideas  distinctly  to  Lord  St.  Helens  on 
the  form  of  vessel  I  consider  as  adapted  to  this  service  as 
well  at  home  as  in  Holland,  where  the  species  actually 
exists  and  requires  only  to  be  fitted.  I  have  thus  enabled 
whoever  may  be  destined  for  that  service  to  act  as  my 
peculiar  experience  would  enable  me,  but  I  hope  I  may 
stand  excused  from  stepping  forward  myself,  which  I 
am  disinclined  to  do  considering  the  little  encouragement 
I  meet  with  for  such  voluntar}^  exertions.  Besides,  no 
man  can  serve  in  a  situation  of  any  degree  of  eminence 
without  hurting  his  private  fortune,  and  I  have  unfortu- 
nately none  to  supply  the  demands  incident  to  such  a 
situation.  If  I  had  I  would  most  willingly  sacrifice  that 
as  I  do  my  time  and  my  health  ;  these  with  a  daring 
spirit  and  as  much  military  experience  as  I  could  acquire 
by  going  wherever  it  was  to  the  obtained,  being  all  I 
can  call  my  own,  I  devote  them  to  my  country's  service, 
though  I  confess  to  you  not  so  cheerfully  as  I  have  done 
hitherto.     I  have  suffered  such  pecuniary  embarrassment 


1794]  THE  NATION'S  GRATITUDE  227 

and  distress  since  my  return  from  Toulon  as  makes  me; 

though  reluctantly,  impeach  my  country's  Justice  ;    an 

Englishman  never  works  the  free  horse  to  the  utmost 

of  his  powers  without  seeing  that  he  is  well  fed  when  he 

comes  home,   and  yet  collectively  they  can  suffer  an 

officer  who  has  served  them  to  the  best  of  his  ability  to 

starve  in  their  streets.     I  do  not  say  this  in  any  ill 

temper.     I  am  ready  to  do  what  I  am  ordered  as  a  military 

man  ought  to  be;  but  when  a  man  has  suffered  much 

and  worked  hard  without  having  in  the  least  mended  his 

situation  or  even  his  prospects  in  life,  his  feelings  must 

be  wounded  at  seeing  that  he  is  working  to  little  purpose. 

If  a  service  which  is  denominated  from  the  Throne  and 

acknowledged  by  Parliament  of  great  national  importance 

be  left  unrequited,  what  hope  is  there  that  any  future 

service  will  be  more  consider 'd  ?    I  content  myself  at 

present  with  a  cruise  in  a  frigate;  the  object  of  which; 

as  it  cannot  affect  the  success  of  the  war,  does  not  afford 

even  the  prospect  of  that  satisfaction  which  is  the  only 

repayment  I  can  look  to  under  the  certainty  of  a  lodging 

in  the  King's  Bench  prison  as  my  ultimate  retreat  when 

the  service  is  ended.     I  hope,  my  dear  Sir,  you    will 

excuse  the  freedom  with  which  I  speak,  but  an  honest 

man  may,  nay  ought  to,  speak  out  to  another} 


Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

B eacons field :  August  17;  1794 
I  always  knew  you  to  have  a  mind  formed  for  generosity 
and  friendship— and  I  now  experience  it  in  the  way  of 
all  others  most  acceptable  to  me,  that  is  in  your  protection 
of  Woodford.'^  My  Richard  was  very  sollicitous  for  his 
establishment ;  and  the  employment  which  you  have  so 
very  kindly  bestowed  upon  him  entitling  him  to  half-pay 

1  Add.  MSS.  37852  f.  32. 

2  Colonel  E.  J.  A.  Woodford,  appointed  by  Windham  Inspector- 
General  of  Foreign  Corps  in  the  pay  of  Great  Britain. 


228  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

puts  him  out  of  anxiety  for  the  future.  It  will  be  a  satis- 
faction for  you  to  know,  that  besides  giving  to  my  Mind; 
and  poor  Mrs.  Burke's,  a  solid  comfort,  you  serve  a  young 
man  of  very  great  honour,  and  great  good-nature,  as 
well  as  of  excellent  Talents  and  much  activity.  There 
will  appear  in  nothing  you  have  done,  any  the  least  trace 
of  blind  partiality.  It  is,  too,  the  Son  of  an  excellent 
father  (of  whom,  however,  I  have  not  much  personal 
knowledge),  who  is,  I  believe,  of  remarkable  ability  in  his 
profession,  I  mean  Col.  Woodford.  If  he  is  what  I 
hear  of  him  he  is  a  sort  of  man  to  be  looked  to  ;  for  I  fear 
we  are  not  overrich  in  soldiership.  Again  a  thousand 
thanks  for  what  you  have  done  for  his  son. 

I  have  been  talking  with  our  excellent  Dr.  Walker 
King,  (who,  having  been  several  times  in  Ireland  with  his 
father,  the  Dean  of  Raphoe,  has  very  just  notions 
concerning  that  country),  about  the  University.  He 
tells  me,  indeed  concurrently  with  the  universal  opinion, 
that  Dr.  Murray  has,  for  several  years,  governed  the 
College  as  Vice-Provost,  with  the  greatest  credit,  and 
indeed  saved  it  from  utter  Ruin  ;  and  that  he  is  in  the 
highest  Esteem  with  the  whole  body.  Now,  he  is  in  the 
order  of  Gradation,  and  would  possess  no  power,  but 
what  in  effect,  he  has  long  exercised.  This  would  cut 
off  all  Cabal,  all  bickering,  and  be  a  plain  and  simple 
answer  to  every  kind  of  unstatutable  applications  from 
without  and  to  all  intrigues  from  within  ;  not  but  that 
I  believe,  if  the  place  were  elective,  they  would  choose 
of  themselves  this  respectable  Divine.  Be  sure,  my 
dear  friend,  that  I  do  not  meddle  in  this  affair  from  any 
predilection  to  persons  :  I  do  not  know  Dr.  Murray 
personally.  If  I  have  anything  personal  in  it,  it  is  my 
earnest  desire  that  everything  done  in  the  Duke  of 
Portland's  department  should  be  done  to  his  honour.^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37843  f-  43- 


1794]  GENERAL  CLERFAYT  229 

H.R.H.  The  Duke  of  York  to  William  Windham 

Head  Quarters 
August  31,  1794 

I  have  many  thanks  to  return  you  for  your  very  obliging 
letter  which  was  deHvered  to  me  the  day  before  yesterday 
by  Mr.  Gunning,  the  Surgeon-General.  I  am  exceedingly 
sensible  of  your  attention  to  my  representation  in  having 
sent  Him,  and  have  no  doubt  of  his  being  able  after  a 
thorough  examination  to  put  the  Hospitals  here  in  a 
good  train,  which  I  am  sorry  to  say  they  want  very 
much.  I  will  take  care  that  he  shall  receive  every  infor- 
mation, which  can  be  given  Him,  and  he  must  afterwards 
visit  the  different  Hospitals  and  examine  Himself  into 
the  different  disputes  which  subsist  between  the  Gentle- 
men of  the  Medical  Departments  and  which  I  am  afraid 
have  been  very  detrimental  to  His  Majesty's  service,  as 
well  as  to  the  Health  of  many  of  His  brave  Soldiers. 

I  am  sincerely  rejoiced  at  Lord  Fitzwilliam's  having 
accepted  of  the  Lord  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland.  His  ap- 
pointment can  not  but  give  the  greatest  satisfaction  to 
both  countries.^ 

The  Death  of  Count  [illegible]  is  certainly  very  unfor- 
tunate at  this  moment.  I  trust,  however,  that  it  will  not 
cause  any  essential  delay  in  the  negotiations.  Lord 
Spencer  and  Mr.  Grenville  appear  to  me  to  have  suc- 
ceeded thus  far  perfectly  well  in  theirs,  as  I  have  already 
received  a  letter  from  the  Prince  of  Cobourg  notifying 
to  me  his  having  resigned  the  Command  of  the  Austrian 
Army  to  General  Clerfayt,  and  this  morning  I  have 
received  a  letter  from  General  Beaulieu  acquainting  me 
of  his  being  arrived  at  Grave,  and  being  charged  with 
a  commission  for  me.  I  shall  do  every  thing  in  my 
power  to  persuade  him  to  press  General  Clerfayt  to 
move  forwards  as  soon  as  possible  as  particularly  at  this 
time  of  the  year  every  moment  is  pretious. 

*  See  ante;  p.  219. 


230  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

I  have  at  last  taken  up  yesterday  the  position  which 
I  had  determined  upon  ever  since  our  retreats  with  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  but  which  he  has  under  different 
protests  delayed  me  for  these  last  four  weeks  from 
occupying.  My  right  is  covered  by  the  Inundations  of 
the  river  Aa;  my  front  by  the  Fortress  of  Bois-le-duc, 
and  my  left  is  at  present  secured  by  its  connection  with 
the  Austrian  Post  at  Vechel.  Should  the  Austrians 
however  not  be  able  to  keep  that  Post,  which  I  trust 
now  will  not  be  the  case,  by  throwing  it  back  a  little  it 
will  be  compleatly  covered  by  a  Great  Morass  called 
the  Peel. 

From  this  position  I  can  move  forwards  to  the  Assist- 
ance of  any  of  the  Dutch  Forteresses  which  may  be 
attacked,  I  effectually  cover  the  only  passage  into  Holland 
which  is  not  defended  with  Forteresses,  and  I  keep  up  my 
communication  with  the  Austrian  Army. 

Before  I  finish  my  letter  I  can  not  help  troubling 
you  in  your  official  capacity  concerning  the  Bat  and 
Forage  Money  for  the  officers  of  Cavalry.  While  I  was 
in  England  last  winter  I  made  an  application  for  leave 
to  give  it  to  them,  to  which  I  did  not  get  an  answer  for 
some  time,  when  Lord  Amherst  informed  me  that  it  was 
settled,  and  that  I  should  receive  the  official  instructions 
to  issue  it  by  the  next  mail,  which  good  piece  of  intelligence 
I  lost  no  time  in  communicating  to  the  officers.  Since  that 
time  I  have  never  received  the  orders  which  I  was  led 
to  expect  and  naturally  have  not  issued  it.  The  Cavalry 
officers  now  complain  bitterly,  and  certainly,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  to  give  my  opinion,  with  some  reason.  I  should 
therefore  be  infinitely  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  enquire 
into  this  Business,  and  if  possible  attain  it  for  them  as 
really  their  courage  and  good  conduct  is  very  exemplary 
and  their  necessary  expenses  are  very  great  .-^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37842  f.  71. 


1794]  THE  LOSS  OF  VALENCIENNES  231 

William  Pitt  to  William  Windham^ 

Wimbledon  :    September  10,  1794 

The  unfortunate  Loss  of  Valenciennes  and  Conde,^  and 
the  opinion  you  appear  to  have  of  the  little  Dependence 
to  be  placed  on  the  Exertions  of  Austria  (in  which  our 
Letters  from  Vienna  concur)  change  much  the  Situation 
of  Affairs  since  We  parted.  The  Suggestions  which  you 
state  relative  to  the  Command,  are  such  as  to  shake  in 
some  degree  (coupled  with  the  other  Circumstances) 
my  Opinion  of  the  Advantage  of  sending  Lord  Cornwallis ;  ^ 
but  how  this  may  finally  be  arranged  for  next  Campaign, 
cannot  now  be  determined.  It  must  depend  partly  on 
what  has  passed  at  Vienna  and  on  many  other  Con- 
siderations. In  the  mean  Time  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
Duke  of  York's  Command  must  continue  while  the  opera- 
tions now  in  Contemplation  last.  It  is  equally  clear  that 
the  Force  destined  to  serve  under  Lord  Moira  can  neither 
be  withdrawn  nor  exchanged  during  the  Course  of  those 
Operations.  If  the  operations  should  be  soon  concluded, 
the  Exchange  might  still  take  place  ;  but  I  incline  to  think 
it  would  be  too  late  for  any  Attempt  on  the  Coast,  and 
on  the  whole  I  am  more  and  more  inclined  to  the  Opinion 
that  any  Attempt  in  that  Quarter  (except  sending  in 
Supplies)  ought  to  be  deferred  till  next  Spring,  when  it 
may  be  attempted  with  a  very  formidable  Force. 

The  Projected  Attack  upon  Antwerp,  and  the  forward 
movement  is,  I  think,  clearly  right,  if  Clerfayt  will  enter 
into  it  heartily.  From  what  is  understood  here  of  his 
Instructions,  compared  with  his  Letter  to  the  Duke  of 
York;  I  cannot  help  having  some  doubt  whether  he  will 

^  Windham  had  left  England  at  the  end  of  August  and  was  at  this 
time  at  Berlikom,  where  the  Duke  of  York  had  quartered  his  army. 

2  Valenciennes,  which  had  surrendered  to  the  Alhes  under  the 
Duke  of  York  on  July  28,  1793,  was  retaken  with  Conde  by  the  French 
on  August  30,  1794. 

3  Charles  Cornwallis,  first  Marquis  and  second  Earl  Cornwallis  (1738- 
1805),  General,  Commander-in  chief  in  India,  1786-1793. 


232  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

not  find  reasons  for  declining  the  Attempt.  Supposing 
Him  not  to  do  so.  My  chief  Reason  for  thinking  the 
Measure  useful  is  that  a  Victory  on  our  part  will  at  least 
check  the  Operations  of  the  Enemy,  damp  their  spirits 
and  raise  those  of  our  Army.  I  am  not  competent  to  judge 
how  far  it  can  enable  our  Armies  to  take  a  Position  which 
they  can  improve  or  which  they  can  maintain  for  the 
Winter.  The  Beating  the  Enemy  (if  there  is  a  fair  Chance 
of  it)  is  itself  a  great  object  (independent  of  Consequences) 
in  the  present  Circumstances.  It  the  Consequence  should 
be  to  dislodge  them  from  Flanders,  or  to  drive  them 
beyond  the  Scheld,  it  would  be  infinitely  better.  But  I 
cannot  help  fearing  that  it  will  be  very  doubtful  whether 
We  can  take  secure  Winter  Quarters  in  Flanders.  Our 
Situation  was  not  thought  good  last  Year,  even  when 
We  had  Valenciens  and  Conde.  I  do  not  mention  this 
as  a  reason  against  the  attempt,  which  it  certainly  is  not, 
provided  there  is  a  good  chance  of  immediate  Success ; 
But  I  wish  it  to  be  considered  beforehand,  whether  in 
case  of  Success,  a  Safe  Position  for  Winter  Quarters 
can  be  established,  except  under  Cover  of  the  Dutch 
Fortresses. 

The  Manner  in  which  the  Duke  of  York  has  treated 
these  discussions  certainly  does  him  infinite  Credit.  The 
King  has  sent  me  a  Letter  from  H.R.H.,  which  has  struck 
me  very  much,  both  from  its  Manliness  and  Liberality. 
In  my  own  Mind  I  consider  the  Expedition  to  the  Coast 
as  over  for  this  Year,  except  for  the  Purpose  of  Supplies. 
We  have  sent  to  our  Friend  Tinteniac  and  shall  probably 
send  him  over  immediately  to  explain  why  nothing  can 
be  done  now  and  to  say  that  much  will  be  done  hereafter. 
If  Lord  Spencer  has  not  closed  already  on  the  Terms  we 
proposed,  I  think  our  Plan  will  now  be,  to  give  no  Subsidy 
either  to  Austria  or  Prussia,  but  to  employ  2,000,000/.  in 
getting  Troops  where  We  can.  Poland  is  so  distant,  that 
even  if  Measures  are  taken  immediately  and  quickly,  I 
doubt  whether  We  can  have  the  Use  of  them  early  next 


1794]  WINDHAM  IN  CAMP  233 

Campaign.  But  you  will  have  the  ]\Ieans  of  collecting 
much  useful  Information  on  these  Points,  and  it  will 
be  very  material  to  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  what 
subsidised  Force  can  be  obtained  exclusive  of  Austria  and 
Prussia. 

I  hope  you  will  be  enabled  to  send  us  an  Account 
particularly  of  what  is  the  Plan  for  Winter  Quarters  in 
Flanders.  Till  the  attack  on  Antwerp  is  over,  I  reckon 
We  have  no  Chance  of  seeing  you,  and  I  am  sure  you  will 
be  of  infinite  Use  while  you  remain  where  You  are.* 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Lukin 

Berlikom,  near  Bois  le  Due 
September  12,  1794 

The  ways  of  a  camp  life  are  so  idle,  that  all  the  habits 
of  business  which  I  may  be  supposed  to  have  acquired  in 
the  last  two  months,  seem  to  give  way  before  them  ; 
And  I  am  in  danger  of  finding  myself  a  worse  corre- 
spondent here,  when  I  have  so  much  to  tell,  and  so  much 
more  time  for  telling  it,  than  I  was  in  London,  when 
occupied  from  morning  till  night  ;  and  when  my  occu- 
pations would  leave  me  but  little  else  to  talk  of.  In  fact, 
the  pleasures  of  moving  about  in  a  scene  so  full  of  interest, 
the  fatigue  that  is  apt  to  follow,  and  the  want  of  a  com- 
fortable room  to  retire  to,  are  the  causes  that  prove  so 
fatal  to  my  correspondence,  and  the  reasons  wh}^  for 
want  of  a  little  occasional  respite,  my  pleasure  in  this 
situation  is  less  than  it  shouldbe. 

We  are,  as  you  will  have  learned  from  one  of  my 
former  letters,  near  Bois  le  Due,  which  is  rather  a  large 
town,  and  a  strong  fortress  belonging  to  the  Dutch. 
About  three  miles  from  this  place  are  the  Duke's  head- 
quarters, and  at  four  or  five  miles  further  is  the  camp. 
The  immediate  place  of  my  residence  is  the  village  where 
headquarters  are,  and    I    am  lodged  in  the  house  of  a 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844!.  34. 


234  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Dutch  attorney.     The  country  about  is  hght  and  sandy, 
affording  very  pleasant  rides,  which  are  not  the  less  so 
from   your   occasionally   meeting   bodies   of   troops,    of 
different    dresses,    establishments,    and    countries.     The 
variety  in  this  respect  is  not  so  great  as  it  was  last  year, 
nor,  from  a  number  of  circumstances,  is  the  scene  so 
interesting,  after  allowing  even  for  the  difference  of  its 
not  being  seen,  as  that  was,  for  the  first  time.     The  relief 
which  all  this  gives,  after  confinement  during  the  summer 
to  London,  and  to  such  business  as  that  of  the  war-ofhce, 
is  more  than  you  can  conceive.     It  has  given  me  a  new 
stock  of  health  ;  and  the  beauty  of  the  autumn  morn- 
ings, joined  to  the  general  idleness  in  which  one  lives  by 
necessity,  and  therefore  without  self-reproach,  has  given 
me  a  feeling  of  youthful  enjoyment,  such  as  I  now  but 
rarely  know.     You  cannot  conceive  how  you  would  like 
a  ride  here,  with  the  idea  that  if  you  wandered  too  far, 
and  went  be3^ond  the  out-posts,  you  might  be  carried  off 
by  a  French  patrole.     It  is  the  enjoyment  that  George 
Faulknor   was   supposed   to   describe,   of   a   scene   near 
Dublin,   where   "the  delighted  spectator  expects  every 
moment  to  be  crushed  by  the  impending  rocks."     Were 
public  business  out  of  the  question,  I  should  stay  here 
probably  for  a  week  or  two  longer  ;  but,  as  it  is,  my  stay 
must   be  regulated   by   other  considerations,   and  it   is 
probable  that  the  messenger  whom  we  are  waiting  for 
impatiently   may   occasion   my   departure   immediately. 
The  general  state  of  things  is  as  bad  as  need  be.     The 
shooters  in  your  part  of  the  world  must  not  suppose  that 
they  have  all  the  sport  themselves.     So  strong  is  the  love 
of  mischief  among  men,  that  all  the  shooting  of  one 
another  that  is  going  on  here,  does  not  prevent  their 
filling  up  their  intervals  by  a  little  murder  of  partridges.^ 

^  Amyot,  M  Memoir  of  Windham,"  p.  36. 


1794]  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1794  235 

William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 

Grave  :    September  16,  I794 

I  will  not  trouble  you  with  a  detail  of  events,  which, 
however  important,  you  will  learn  so  much  more  satis- 
factorily from  the  dispatch  of  his  Royal  Highness  the 
Duke  of  York  ;  but  only  say,  that  however  unpleasant 
another  retrograde  movement  may  be,  and  whatever 
opinion  may  be  entertained  of  our  present  position,  with 
the  objections  to  which  no  one  is  so  much  impressed  as  his 
R.H.  himself  ;  the  measure  was  wholly  unavoidable  ;  and 
if  his  R.H.  wanted  in  any  instance  the  concurrence  of 
every  officer  of  consideration  in  the  Army,  it  was  in 
endeavouring  to  maintain  his  position  so  long,  as  He 
did.  The  evils,  however,  that  might  have  been  appre- 
hended from  such  an  endeavour  have  not  been  felt. 
The  retreat  was  effected  in  the  most  perfect  order,  and 
without  even  being  molested  ;  and  the  previous  loss, 
except  in  a  part  of  the  foreign  troops,  and  where  it 
seems  too  to  have  proceeded  from  causes  which  no  skill 
or  prudence  of  the  Commander  could  prevent,  has  been 
altogether  inconsiderable.  It  was  plainly  desirable  to 
continue  to  maintain  the  position,  till  it  should  be  known 
whether  the  movements  of  the  Enemy,  were  merely 
intended  to  alarm,  or  were  likely  to  be  followed  with  his 
whole  force. 

On  the  subject  of  the  past,  therefore,  no  more  need 
be  said.  Enough  will  remain  in  the  consideration  of 
what  should  be  done  in  future,  with  a  view  to  which  the 
Duke  will  send  off  this  day  an  aide-de-camp,  to  General 
Clerfayt,  and  who  will  be  accompanied,  I  believe,  by 
Mr.  Pelham.  The  principal  points  to  be  considered  will, 
no  doubt,  long  since  have  engaged  your  attention  :  and 
will  be  stated  probably  more  particularly  in  the  Duke's 
letter.  The  Question,  I  presume,  is  pretty  much  of 
establishing  the  Austrians  in  the  Country,  where  they 
are,  including  in  that  idea  the  recovery  of  Treves : — of 


236  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

preserving  the  frontier  of  Holland,  and  recovering,  if 
possible,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  possession  of  the  Scheldt. 

The  Duke  of  York  seems  to  be  of  opinion,  that  from 
the  direction  of  the  River  in  this  part.  His  movements 
must  become  so  circuitous,  as  to  require  a  greater  force 
to  render  them  effectual,  than  if  He  had  not  the  benefit 
of  the  protection  of  the  River  :  But  I  should  hope,  that 
He  rather  overrated  the  disadvantages  of  his  situation 
in  that  respect ;  and  that  a  corps  less  considerable  even 
than  that  which  He  has,  might  by  being  kept  in  a  move- 
able state,  and  applied  with  address  to  the  movements  of 
the  Enemy,  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  pass  the  River  ; 
and  might  afford  to  his  R.H.  means  far  from  being  in- 
effectual both  for  a  co-operation  with  Gen.  Clerfayt  and 
for  all  the  other  objects  of  the  Campaign.  These  objects 
for  some  time  past  have  been  confined  very  much,  in 
my  apprehension,  to  the  assistance  of  the  Austrians  in 
maintaining  their  present  position,  and  in  the  protection 
of  the  Dutch  Frontier. 

The  recovery  of  the  Scheldt,  though  in  the  highest  degree 
desirable,  has  been  for  a  great  while  very  much  out  of 
my  hopes  ;  and  it  was  very  much  from  that  consideration, 
that  I  shared  less,  than  I  should  otherwise  have  done,  in 
the  desire  of  the  Duke  to  maintain  his  late  position,  and 
to  take  the  chance  of  an  action.  It  seemed  to  me,  that 
even  a  complete  victory,  attended  with  as  great  slaughter 
and  as  great  dispersion  of  the  Enemy,  as  could  possibly 
be  looked  to,  would  have  given  us  after  all  no  very  confi- 
dent hope  of  being  able  to  effect  a  great  deal  in  that  quarter. 
At  present  with  the  Enemy  not  beat,  and  with  this  Army 
at  a  greater  distance,  this  prospect  must  of  course  become 
very  faint  indeed. — I  shall  be  very  well  satisfied,  there- 
fore, dating  from  my  last  hopes,  if  we  secure  the  other 
two  points,  namely,  the  establishing  completely  the 
Austrians,  and  the  preserving  entire  the  frontier  of 
Holland.  This,  I  should  think,  may  very  well  be  done, 
with  the  chance  too  of  something  better,  if  ever}-  power 


1794]         THE  APATHY  OF  THE  DUTCH  237 

concerned,  will  fairly  play  their  part  :  But  this  will  as 
certainly  not  be  done,  (at  least  great  doubt  may  be 
entertained  of  it)  if  the  Dutch  are  to  go  on,  as  they  do, 
throwing  the  whole  business  of  their  defence  upon  us,  and 
never  seeming  to  entertain  an  idea,  that  they  are  to 
contribute  anything  to  the  support  of  their  own  cause, 
or  not  to  cheat  and  obstruct  us,  who  have  been  willing 
to  undertake  it,  by  every  means  in  their  power.  There 
is  really  such  a  brutish  insensibility,  a  base  selfishness  in 
the  conduct  of  this  people,  so  far  as  I  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  it,  that  I  cannot  but  think,  that  nothing 
will  have  any  effect,  but  a  direct  menace  to  abandon 
them  to  their  fate  ;  and  to  make  them  sensible,  that  when 
the  means  of  safety  are  in  their  own  hands,  if  they  will  not 
make  use  of  them,  they  will  be  left  to  perish.  Whatever 
they  can  hope  to  get  done  by  another,  they  are  perfectly 
certain  not  to  do  themselves.  The  Duke  of  York  is  of 
opinion  that  the  loss  of  the  Lys  is  to  be  ascribed  wholly 
to  the  measures  which  we  took  to  assist  them  in  its  relief. 

Finding  that  we  were  willing  to  do  what  we  could,  they 
hoped  that  we  should  do  everything  ;  and  of  consequence 
abandoned  immediately  the  measures,  which  they  had 
before  intended,  and  which  were  then  practicable,  for 
the  relief  of  the  place.  As  a  Specimen  of  their  exertions, 
the  Garrison  of  this  place  consists  of  a  few  companies  of 
very  ordinary  troops,  with  a  General  of  80  years  of  age; 
so  helpless  and  infirm,  that  the  Bailiff  of  the  Town,  begged; 
that  whatever  was  necessary  to  be  done  for  the  mere 
military  police  of  the  Town,  might  be  done  by  our  troops, 
and  under  the  direction  of  our  officers. 

The  first  thing,  therefore,  I  should  think,  which 
Government  will  be  desirous  of  attending  to,  will  be  the 
impressing  the  States  with  the  absolute  necessity  of 
coming  forward  fairly  in  their  own  defence.  Representa- 
tions of  a  Similar  sort  will  probabl}^  not  be  thought 
superfluous  with  respect  to  Austria  ;  and  with  respect 
to  objects  not  capable  of  waiting  for  the  effect  of  such 


238  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

communications,  provision  will  be  made;  as  far  as 
circumstances  admit,  by  the  Communication;  which  as  I 
mentioned  above,  the  Duke  is  about  to  have  with  Gen. 
Clerfayt.  Till  the  result  of  this  is  known,  it  does  not 
occur  that  I  have  anything  more  to  state  or  to  suggest. 
It  does  not  appear,  either,  that  after  that  time  my  presence 
here  can  be  of  any  particular  use  :  I  shall  therefore,  if 
nothing  new  presents  itself,  continue  in  the  intention; 
which  I  wrote  word  of  sometime  since  to  Chatham;  and 
repeat  the  request,  which  I  then  made,  of  having  a  frigate; 
if  he  can  spare  one,  to  meet  me  at  Helvoetsluys  about 
the  2oth.  Should  it  appear  to  you;  however,  that  my 
presence  here  can  be  useful  in  any  respect,  I  shall  be  at 
your  service,  for  a  longer  period. 

[P.S.]  Though  the  Duke  of  York's  opinion  seems  at 
present  to  be,  that  his  situation  at  present  may  require 
even  a  larger  force  than  was  necessary  in  that  which  he 
quitted,  yet  it  is  possible,  that  further  inquiry  and 
information  may  alter  his  opinion  in  that  respect,  and 
that  the  Course  of  events  may  enable  him  to  spare,  as  His 
own  inclination  will  prompt  him  to  do,  whenever  He  can; 
a  sufficient  change  to  enable  you  to  set  up  again,  the 
expedition  to  the  Coast  of  France.  You  will  forgive, 
therefore,  my  urging  to  your  consideration  the  importance 
of  keeping  everything  in  readiness  for  such  an  event;  that 
no  chance  may  be  lost  of  what  is  so  infinitely  to  be  wished 
as  a  successful  attempt  in  that  quarter.^ 

The  affairs  in  Flanders  had  been  growing  steadily 
worse.  After  the  defeat  by  Pichegru  at  Tournay  (May  18), 
when  the  ability  of  Generals  Abercromby  and  Fox  alone 
saved  the  English  army  from  disaster,  the  outlook  became 
more  gloomy  each  week.  Even  the  reinforcement  of 
7000  men,  sent  out  in  June  under  the  Earl  of  Moira,  had 
failed  to  stem  the  tide  of  retreat.     The  suspicion  in  men's 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  40. 


THI-:    DUKE   OF   YORK 


//.   i'*CLU-f,  S,  l(.'p(. 


1794]   THE  DUKE  OF  YORK'S  INCAPACITY      239 

minds  that  the  Duke  of  York  was  not  a  leader  likely  to 
achieve  success  had  slowly  been  crystallised  into  a  con- 
viction. The  situation,  however,  was  one  full  of  diffi- 
culty, and  it  was  left  to  Windham  to  make  that  courageous 
move,  which  resulted  in  the  Duke's  recall. 

William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 
Most  private  Grave  :    September  16,  1794 

I  am  now  to  write  to  you  upon  a  subject,  which  I  feel 
to  be  at  once  so  delicate  and  important,  that  nothing  but 
a  sense  of  that  extreme  importance,  would  induce  me 
to  speak  upon  it,  even  under  that  seal  of  secrecy  and 
confidence,  under  which  I  wish  you  to  consider  it  as  being 
delivered.  My  last  letter  to  Mr.  Dundas  betrayed, 
probably,  an  opinion,  which,  if  the  distinction  might  be 
admitted,  I  should  be  better  satisfied  to  have  betrayed, 
than  declared  ;  but  which,  if  it  does  exist,  must  be  made 
known  in  some  way  or  another,  however  it  may  go  to  my 
heart  to  do  anything  unfavourable  to  the  hopes  and 
wishes  of  a  person,  for  whom  I  feel  the  most  genuine 
respect  and  attachment.  There  is  something  too,  that 
has  an  appearance  of  treachery, — ^though  certainly  in  this 
instance  an  appearance  only — in  secretly  frustrating 
the  views  of  any  one,  from  whom  one  is  receiving  daily 
marks  of  confidence  and  kindness, and  whom  one  is  anxious 
to  impress  with  an  opinion  of  ones  being  warmly 
attached  to  them.  Such  undoubtedly  is  my  situation 
with  respect  to  the  Duke  of  York.  I  really  respect  and 
love  him  more  and  more,  the  more  I  see  of  him  :  I  am 
glad  that  He  should  be  persuaded  that  I  do  so  ;  But 
certainly  no  attachment  that  I  have  ever  expressed  or 
meant  to  convey,  can  be  supposed  to  be  carried  to  that 
length  as  that  I  should  prefer  his  personal  wishes  or 
interests  to  what  may  be  capable  of  affecting  the  fate 
of  the  country  and  of  the  world  in  a  crisis  like  the  present. 
My  opinion,  therefore,  on  any  point  of  this  sort,  where  its 


240  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

being  known  may  be  useful,  must  be  declared,  whatever 
effect  it  may  have,  on  those,  whose  wishes  I  should  be 
happy  to  promote,  or  whatever  painful  consequences  it 
may  in  the  end  draw  upon  myself.  To  avoid  those 
consequences  I  would  take  all  legitimate  means  ;  one  of 
which  is  to  communicate  my  opinions  in  all  possible 
confidence.  My  motives  are  such  (and  can  be  no  other) 
as  I  should  be  ready  to  have  manifested  to  all  the  world, 
but  it  may  be  naturally  wished  not  to  have  the  fact  known, 
where  the  motive  and  the  reason  do  not  appear  at  the 
same  time. 

Let  me  give  you,  therefore,  freely  but  confidentially 
my  opinion,  that  the  operations  of  this  Army  will,  I  fear, 
never  go  on  well,  while  the  present  Commander  remains 
at  the  head  of  it.  This  is  my  present  opinion,  nor  do  I 
foresee  any  probability  of  change.  It  is,  I  am  sure,  so 
true  at  present  as  to  make  me  bless  myself  at  our  escape 
from  our  late  difficulties,  and  to  alter  my  whole  views  of 
what  it  may  be  proper  to  do,  in  the  remaining  part  of  the 
campaign.  It  is  from  this  latter  consideration,  that  I 
think  it  right,  not  only  that  you  should  know  my  opinion, 
but  that  you  should  know  it  immediately.  The  reasons 
of  it  may  come  afterwards  : — the  first  of  them  is,  that 
the  Army  certainly  has  not  that  opinion  of  the  Duke  of 
York  as  to  act  under  him  with  confidence.  Though  the 
licentiousness  of  one  class  of  Officers  is  kept  within  some- 
what better  bounds  :  though  the  unpopularity  of  the 
Duke  is  abated  ;  though  his  virtues,  and  his  other  amiable 
qualities,  are  gradually  making  their  way,  yet  a  confidence 
is  not  felt  in  his  capacity  to  conduct  an  Army  ;  nor  can  I 
fairly  say,  that,  judging  less  from  the  merits  of  the  case 
than  from  collateral  circumstances,  I  think  it  likely,  that  it 
should  be  so.  The  consequences  are,  in  the  mean  time,  most 
pernicious,  and  show  themselves  in  ways  not  immediately 
obvious.  But  the  great  consequence  is  the  effect  which 
this  feeling  in  the  Army  may  have  in  circumstances  such 
as  those  which  we  have  lately  been  in  :   and  the  force  of 


1794]  THE  DUKE'S  ACQUITTAL  241 

this  is  so  great,  joined  to  a  chance  always  that  the  feeHng 
may  be  well  founded,  and  to  more  than  a  chance 
that  it  is  well  founded  to  a  certain  degree,  that  I  must 
confess  I  shall  tremble  for  every  step  which  they  will 
have  to  make  when  left  to  their  own  direction. 

What  remedy  is  to  be  applied  in  this  state  of  things  I 
cannot  undertake  to  point  out.  I  show  you  the  difficulty, 
but  can  say  but  little  as  to  the  way  out  of  it.  To  remove 
the  Duke  at  this  instant,  would  certainly  be  cruel  ;  for  it 
would  appear  to  be  the  consequence  of  a  step,  right  in  itself, 
and  in  which  He  yielded  more  to  the  opinions  of  others, 
than  followed  his  own.  The  King,  too,  is  delighted  with 
his  Decision,  respecting  the  question  of  Lord  Cornwallis  ; 
and  will  consider  the  whole  as  a  manoeuvre  to  get  rid 
of  the  Duke,  which  not  having  succeeded  by  stratagem, 
must  now  be  effected  by  force.  I  stick,  however,  to  my 
opinion,  that  some  great  change  must  be  made,  or  the 
Army  will  be  undone,  and  our  affairs  in  this  quarter  never 
succeed,  but  by  what  may  be  considered  as  chance.  A 
thoroughly  able  man,  like  such  as  the  Austrians  chose 
for  their  Quarter-Master  General,  might  set  all  right : 
but  where  is  such  a  one  in  our  service  to  be  found  ?  I 
do  not  now  think,  that  even  the  plan,  which  I  caught  at 
so  eagerly,  of  the  Archduke  ^  commanding  the  whole, 
would  by  any  means  answer  all  the  purpose.  The  evil 
lyes,  as  much  as  in  anything,  in  the  domestick  Economy, 
and  discipline  of  this  particular  Army.  What,  therefore, 
is  to  be  done,  I  do  not  know.  As  a  preliminary  step, 
having  in  the  first  place  the  recommendation  of  justice, 
and  being  calculated  afterwards  to  reconcile  to  the  Duke's 
mind  and  to  the  King's,  whatever  measure  of  change  may, 
now  or  hereafter,  be  adopted,  no  symptom  of  disappro- 
bation should  appear  or  be  suspected  of  the  last  move- 
ment ;  but  on  the  contrary  the  clearest  approbation  be 
expressed  of  it ;  at  least,  (which  is  all  that  I  am  intent 
upon)  the  clearest  acquittal  of  the  Duke.  I  am  doubly 
^  Archduke  Charles  of  Austria  (1771-1847). 


242  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

bound  to  say  this,  as  I  certainly  took  all  pains  to  make 
him  adopt  that  resolution ;  nor  could  such  censure 
upon  him  be  countenanced  by  any  of  those  persons  about 
him,  whom  I  had  the  opportunity  of  consulting.  Perhaps 
when  every  idea  of  censure  or  dissatisfaction  was  removed, 
the  offer  of  some  principal  situation  at  home,  connected 
with  Military  service,  and  including  great  Patronage, 
which  no  one  would  discharge  more  uprightly,  and  ably 
(I  mean,  distinctly,  Commander-in-Chief,  or  Master- 
General  of  the  Ordnance,  or  both  together)  might  serve  to 
reconcile  the  loss  of  the  command  of  the  Army  here  ;  and 
would  be  an  arrangement  good  in  my  opinion,  both  in 
the  Offices,  which  it  gave,  as  it  will  in  those,  which  it 
took  away.  If  by  adding  the  Ordnance  to  the  situation 
of  Commander-in-Chief,  under  some  general  denomination, 
or  half  a  dozen  Offices  besides,  the  removal  might  be 
affected  for  this  Campaign,  supposing  that  much  is  to  be 
done  in  it,  I  should  think  the  advantage  of  the  change, 
cheaply  purchased.  If  from  the  answer  of  Clerfayt, 
or  your  decisions  at  home,  the  Campaign  is  likely  soon 
to  end,  or  not  to  be  very  critical,  it  may  be  better  to  let  it 
run  out,  as  it  is. 

With  respect  to  what  I  said  at  the  beginning,  of  the 
confidence,  in  which  this  is  written,  I  shall  leave  it  to 
your  discretion  to  whom  you  may  wish  to  communicate 
the  contents,  observing  only  as  I  have  already  done,  that 
I  should  be  sorry  to  be  known,  as  the  author  of  the  advice, 
though  I  shall  certainly  never  dissemble  the  opinion. 
Should  the  measure  be  taken,  I  shall  not  fail  to  have  my 
full  share  in  the  resentment,  which  it  may  possibly  excite 
in  one  quarter,  and  what  I  shall  feel  more  sensibly,  in  the 
emotions  of  wounded  kindness,  which  it  may  produce  in 
another.  All,  however,  must  give  way  before  the  con- 
siderations, which  ought  to  govern  on  such  an  occasion. 
Should  Mr.  Dundas  be  among  the  persons  to  whom  you 
may  communicate  what  I  have  mentioned,  He  will 
not  take  it  ill,  if  I  suggest  the  expediency  of  a  little  more 


1794]       LORD  CORNWALLIS  SUGGESTED  243 

guard  than  his  general  frankness  sometimes  suffers  him 
to  observe. 1 


William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 
Most  private  Head  Quarters,  near  Grave 

September  19,  1794 
I  pursue  shortly  the  same  topick,  that  made  the  subject 
of  my  private  letter  to  you  the  day  before  yesterday. — I 
now  know  for  certain;  what  I  before  only  conjectured, 
that  one  of  the  situations,  which  I  mentioned,  that  namely 
of  Commander-in-Chief,  is  one  so  perfectly  consonant 
to  the  wishes  of  the  party  in  question,  that  it  would  go  a 
great  way  towards  curing  any  mortification,  that  would 
be  felt,  at  losing  the  present  command.  I  have  little 
doubt,  therefore,  that  by  the  aid  of  this  compensation, 
the  affair  might  easily  be  arranged  for  another  year  :  and 
it  is  certainly  much  better,  that  it  should,  if  possible,  be 
deferred  till  then  ;  not  only  as  such  delay  will  render 
it  more  easy,  but  as  it  may  give  time  for  the  consideration 
of  such  further  changes  in  the  distribution  of  offices,  as  I 
hinted  at  in  my  last  letter,  and  as  I  am  persuaded,  would 
be  of  infinite  advantage  to  the  publick  service.  It  is  a 
question,  however,  how  far  the  Army  can  be  trusted  in  its 
present  state  for  the  execution  of  the  short,  but  critical 
service  with  which  it  is  at  present  charged.  Nothing  can 
be  conceived  more  important,  nor  at  the  same  time  more 
delicate,  than  the  services,  which  it  has  at  this  time  to 
perform.  It  is  one  of  the  nicest  operations  of  war,  I 
conceive,  either  to  pass  an  army  over  a  river  in  the  face 
of  an  enemy,  or  to  prevent  an  enemy  from  passing. 
It  is  a  game  of  great  skill  on  either  side.  If  I  could  by 
wishing  set  down  the  general  of  my  choice,  I  should 
certainly  choose,  as  the  player  of  that  game,  my  Lord 
Cornwallis.  His  authority  would  do  more  to  correct  the 
abuses  of  the  Army  ;    his  Experience  would  conduct  it 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  44. 


244  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

better  :  should  an  action  be  brought  on,  the  army  under 
him  would  infallibly  act  with  a  degree  of  confidence  more, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  than  it  does  under  the  Duke  of  York. 
The  hope  is,  that  the  Enemy  may  not  attempt  to  pass  the 
River,  or  that  if  they  do,  the  action  may  not  be  of  a  sort, 
to  require  any  very  nice  and  regular  movement,  or  any- 
thing more,  than  that  which  the  mere  valour  of  the  troops 
will  perform,  whether  they  feel  confidence  in  the  skill  of 
their  commander,  or  not. 

One  step  to  make  the  hazard  less  of  leaving  it  as  it  is 
till  the  end  of  the  campaign,  will  be  to  furnish  it  with 
those  aids,  which  it  ought  to  have  had  long  since,  and  the 
want  of  which  is  really  a  subject  of  very  serious  complaint. 
When  the  line  was  drawn  out  the  other  day,  in  circum- 
stances as  critical  as  an  army  ever  stood  in  ;  where  nothing 
but  uncommon  exertions  could  have  ensured  its  success, 
and  where  the  ruin  of  the  world  must  have  been  the  conse- 
quence of  defeat,  there  was  but  one  Major-General  from 
one  end  of  the  line  to  the  other,  and  most  of  the  Brigades 
were  commanded  by  men,  too  young  both  in  age  and 
in  service  to  be  properly  entrusted  with  the  care  of  a 
company.  There  is,  besides,  as  I  mentioned  before,  a 
terrible  want  of  many  articles  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  movements  of  an  army.  The  single  circumstance 
of  a  bad  supply  of  drivers  for  the  Artillery  may  easily  lead 
to  consequences  involving  the  fate  of  a  campaign  Their 
want  of  proper  care  will  ruin  the  horses  ;  their  want  of 
skill  will  be  the  cause  perpetually  of  guns  overturning, 
of  their  being  lost  in  consequence,  and,  what  is  worse,  of 
their  stopping  a  whole  line  of  march.  These  are  things, 
which  I  heard  stated,  when  I  was  abroad  last  year  ;  The 
same  are  of  some  consequence  now,  when  the  business, 
which  the  army  has  to  perform,  depends  above  all  things 
upon  a  prompt  movement  of  Artillery. 

One  sits  at  home  quietly  and  overlooks  such  particulars  ; 
but  the  fate  of  armies  and  of  Kingdoms  is  decided  often 
by  nothing  else.     Every   such   defect   must,   therefore, 


1794]        THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  DUTCH  245 

speedily  be  supplied  ;  and  I  will  endeavour  for  that  pur- 
pose to  obtain  from  the  Duke  a  more  correct  and  detailed 
account  of  them.  I  mentioned  in  one  of  my  former 
letters,  that  Cavalry  would  be  of  use.  At  present,  in 
some  respects,  their  want  is  less  ;  yet  in  others  they  are 
still  desire  able  :  observing  only  that  the  number  should 
not  be  so  considerable,  as  make  the  necessity  of  their 
being  encamped  ;  which  would  come  under  the  objections 
before  made,  to  putting  troops  to  take  the  field  at  this 
season  of  the  year.  Upon  my  stating  that  objection 
the  answer  given  was,  that  part  of  the  Cavalry  might  be 
used  as  a  reserve,  and  be  suffered  to  remain  in  Canton- 
ments. A  Regiment,  therefore,  of  light  horse  would  be 
very  useful. 

The  conduct  of  the  Dutch  is  such  as  to  create  every 
day  new  resentment.  Anything  so  brutish,  stupid,  and 
selfish,  was  never  seen.  I  am  quite  persuaded,  that 
the  only  way  to  deal  with  them,  is  to  make  them  know, 
that  what  they  can  do  for  themselves  will  not  be  done  for 
them  ;  and  that  if  they  should  choose  by  leaving  it  undone, 
to  let  their  country  be  ruined,  it  is  their  affair  much  more, 
than  it  is  ours.  The  Duke  of  York  in  a  conference  last 
night  with  Prince  Frederick,  entered  into  some  engage- 
ments, of  which  I  did  not  see  much  the  necessity  ;  but 
not  having  known  of  the  intention  before,  I  could  do 
little  more  than  suggest  some  changes.  I  do  not  much  see, 
why  the  Duke  should  be  called  upon  to  bind  himself  by 
engagements  to  the  defence  of  Holland,  when  all  that 
they  had  to  offer  in  return  ;  and  which  they  did  not  do 
without  some  difficulty  ;  was  an  engagement  to  defend 
themselves.  They  seemed  to  consider  that,  as  the 
valuable  consideration,  which  was  to  make  the  bargain  on 
our  side  binding.  The  danger  most  to  be  apprehended  at 
this  moment  is  the  reduction  of  Crevecoeur  ;  and  this 
danger  arises  almost  wholly  from  their  having  no  garrison 
in  it. 

I  find  it  happen  so  continually,   that  beginning  to 


246  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

write  you  a  few  lines  I  am  drawn  in  to  write  a  long  letter; 
that  I  fear  you  will  dread  the  sight  of  my  hand,  and  will 
be  happy  to  hear,  that  at  the  return  of  Mr.  Pelham,  I 
purpose  to  set  off  on  my  way  home.-^ 


William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 
Private  Downing  Street 

September  21,  1794 
The  Messenger  arrived  this  afternoon  with  the  Duke's 
dispatches  of  the  17th  and  with  your  two  letters  of  the 
i6th.  You  will  easily  conceive  how  much  their  Contents 
add  to  the  Embarrassment  of  a  Situation,  before  sufficiently 
discouraging.  It  is,  however,  one  of  the  Peculiarities 
of  that  Situation,  that  there  is  no  Sense  of  difficulty  which 
it  does  not  oblige  us  to  encounter.  With  respect  to  the 
Events  which  are  Public,  I  have  very  little  doubt,  from 
the  Considerations  you  have  mentioned,  of  the  Propriety 
and  Necessity  of  the  Retreat.  Even  if  I  thought  other- 
wise, I  should  consider  it  as  one  of  those  Measures,  which 
Persons  not  on  the  Spot  are  not  at  Liberty  to  criticise  ; 
and  I  have  had  no  Hesitation  (in  the  Absence  of  Mr. 
Dundas  who  has  left  his  Pen  in  my  Hands)  in  sending  a 
dispatch  to  the  Duke  of  York  in  terms  of  express  Appro- 
bation. With  respect  to  what  is  to  follow,  I  own  it  is 
quite  as  much  as  I  expect  if  We  can  succeed  in  main- 
taining in  the  first  Instance  our  own  Position  and  that 
of  the  Austrians,  and  in  putting  ourselves  and  them  in 
a  state  to  Move,  as  Circumstances  may  require,  for  the 
actual  Protection  of  the  Dutch  Frontier.  It  would 
however,  be  impossible  to  think  of  sending  any  decisive 
Instructions  from  home,  at  least  till  We  hear  what  has 
passed  with  Gen.  Clerfayt. — I  distrust  extremely  any 
Ideas  of  my  own  on  Military  Subjects  ;  but  on  the  very 
superficial  Grounds,  on  which  I  can  proceed,  I  confess 
1  am  inclined  to  fear  that  the  Length  of  River  which  the 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  s6. 


1794]  LORD  MULGRAVE'S  PLAN  247 

Duke  has  to  guard  is  more  than  His  Force  will  be  equal 
to,  if  the  Enemy  turn  their  chief  Attention  to  forcing 
a  Passage. — However,  with  this  Impression,  and  from 
observing  the  doubts  which  you  mention  The  Duke  of 
York  himself  to  entertain  on  this  Subject,  I  have  thought 
it  best  to  insert  a  Paragraph  in  the  dispatch  which 
may  strengthen  his  hand  in  enforcing  any  demand  of 
Reinforcement  which  He  may  on  due  Consideration 
find  it  necessary  to  make  on  Gen.  Clerfayt. 

There  is  another  Alternative  to  which  I  have  also 
pointed  very  generally  in  the  dispatch,  but  which  I 
suggest  for  your  Consideration,  with  a  degree  less  of 
diihdence,  because  it  was  in  part  suggested  to  me  by  a 
Conversation  which  I  had  yesterday  with  Mulgrave.^ 
He  seemed  to  think  that  possibly  one  object  in  crossing 
the  Meuse  (of  which  We  had  then  had  only  a  general 
Account  from  The  Hague)  might  be  to  concenter  our 
Force  with  the  Austrians,  in  order  the  better  to  ensure 
their  Compleating  the  operations  at  Treves  and  securing 
the  Left  of  their  Army;  that,  altho'  this  might  leave 
the  Fortresses  on  the  Dutch  Frontier  more  exposed  for  a 
Time,  It  would  be  impossible,  considering  the  Inunda- 
tions, for  the  Enemy  to  make  immediately  any  serious 
Impression,  supposing  them  to  be  tolerably  garrisoned 
and  supplied  ;  and  that,  after  compleating  the  Business 
on  the  Side  of  Treves,  a  concerted  Movement,  might  be 
made  in  greater  Force  and  with  more  Security,  by  the 
Austrian  Force  in  conjunction  with  ours,  in  Time  to 
relieve  the  Fortresses,  and  perhaps  to  attack  the  Enemy, 
when  their  operations  had  proceeded  just  far  enough  to 
entangle  them  in  additional  difficulties.  I  am  not  sure 
whether  I  state  his  Idea  correctly,  but  this  is  what  arose 
in  my  mind  from  conversing  with  Him.  If  it  is  worth 
thinking  of  at  all,  the  Whole  would  depend  upon  the 
certainty  of  the  Fortresses  holding  out  for  a  given  Time, 

1  Henry  Phipps,  third  Baron  Mulgrave  (1755-1831),  afterwards  first 
Earl  of  Mulgrave. 


248  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

of  the  Operations  at  Treves  being  compleated  in  that 
Interval ;  and  of  the  Subsequent  Movement  being  con- 
ducted vigorously  and  with  a  hearty  Concert. 

Independent  of  these  Conditions  there  may  be  a 
Thousand  Objections  which  put  the  thing  absolutely  out 
of  the  Question  ;  but  the  Worst  which  will  then  have 
happened  is  the  giving  you  the  trouble  of  reading  three 
useless  Pages. 

I  come  now  to  your  Private  Letter,  on  which,  however, 
I  will  not  venture  to  say  much,  because  I  think  it  will  not 
be  possible  to  take  any  final  decision  on  the  Subject  till 
after  seeing  you,  and  because,  in  the  Uncertainty  whether 
you  may  not  have  proceeded  to  Helvoetsluys,  I  do  not  like 
to  run  any  unnecessary  risk  from  this  Letter  falling  into 
other  Hands.  I  feel  in  its  fullest  Extent  the  Sacrifice 
you  make  to  Public  Duty,  as  well  as  the  unreserved 
Confidence  you  have  been  so  good  as  to  place  in  Me.  The 
Subject  is  every  Way  so  full  of  difficulties  that  I  hardly 
know  what  Opinion  to  incline  to. — Perhaps  if  Aber- 
cromby  ^  could  be  taken  voluntarily,  into  real  and  full 
Confidence,  It  would  give  the  best  Chance  for  the  Re- 
mainder of  this  Campaign,  which  I  think  must  be  an 
important  Period,  because  the  Enemy  will  probably  be 
active  if  We  are  not.  But  if  the  Idea  does  not  arise  almost 
spontaneously  I  hardl}'  know  how  it  can  be  suggested 
without  losing  its  full  Chance  of  Success. 

A  total  Change,  even  if  we  could  make  up  our  Minds 
to  it,  I  believe  impracticable  at  this  moment,  because 
the  only  Person  whom  We  could  think  of  as  a  Successor, 
would  not,  I  am  Convinced,  accept  under  such  Circum- 
stances. For  another  Campaign,  perhaps  the  Course 
of  Events  might  of  itself  point  to  employing  so  much  of 
the  British  Force  in  other  Quarters,  as  to  leave  only  a 
less  considerable  Auxiliary  Arm}^  in  Flanders,  and  so 

^  General  Ralph  Abercromby  (1734-1801 ),  in  command  of  abrigade 
under  the  Duke  of  York.  He  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the  war, 
and  on  his  return  to  England  in  1795  was  created  K.B. 


1794]         THE  DUKE  TO  BE  RECALLED  249 

avoid  the  difficulty.  To  this,  however,  there  are  obvious 
objections  from  the  Impression  in  Holland  and  the  Want 
of  Reliance  on  Austria.  I  feel  that  I  am  saying  more 
on  the  Subject  than  I  intended  to  do,  and  yet  I  am  only 
stating  difficulties  without  making  any  Progress  towards 
a  Solution  of  them.  I  have  as  yet  communicated  your 
Letter  only  to  The  Duke  of  Portland,  who  was  with  me 
when  I  received  it,  and  with  whom  I  am  persuaded  its 
Contents  are  safe.  I  shall  venture  to  send  it  to  Dundas 
(who  is  for  a  few  days  at  Walmer),  with  whom  your 
Caution  at  the  End  will  I  am  sure  have  its  full  effect.  And 
I  know  that  I  may  mention  it  with  the  most  absolute 
safety  to  Grenville,  whose  Opinion  I  shall  be  very  anxious 
to  know.  The  Duke  of  Portland  was  as  unable  as  myself 
to  find  any  satisfactory  Way  out  of  the  difficulty.  We 
both  agreed  in  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  very  desirable 
to  see  you  as  soon  as  possible. 

From  the  Absence  of  my  Brother  and  Mr.  C.  Middleton, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  with  positive  Certainty 
which  Measures  have  been  taken  to  secure  a  Frigate  for 
you  at  Helvoetsluys,  but  I  think  it  is  pretty  clear  that 
the  Jason  must  be  there  before  this  Time.  I  shall  know, 
however,  with  certainty  to-morrow,  and  will  take  care 
that  one  shall  be  provided  immediately,  if  it  has  not  been 
done  already.^ 

William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 
Most  private  Head  Quarters 

"~  September  21, 1794 

You  may  be  tolerably  secure  of  not  receiving  a  long 
letter  from  me  to-night,  if  I  would  not  run  the  risk  of 
writing  part  of  it  in  my  sleep. 

I  have  only  to  say,  that  I  think  the  Duke  is  not 
unprepared  to  acquiesce  in  his  recall  at  any  moment, 
provided  such  a  reception  could  be  ready  for  him  as  I 
hinted   in   my  last  letter,  and  that  no  idea  should  be 

1  Add.  MSS  37844  f.  60. 


250  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

conveyed  of  dissatisfaction  at  his  conduct  during  his  com- 
mand. I  am  not  quite  sure,  whether  what  he  said  in  this 
respect,  related  to  the  measure  of  Lord  Cornwalhs  being 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  whole,  agreeably  to 
the  first  proposal ;  or  to  his  being  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  British  (or  troops  in  British  pay)  only  : 
and  I  did  not  think  it  expedient,  in  the  instant,  to  press 
for  an  explanation  ;  But,  I  believe,  it  would  in  the 
event  prove  true  of  either.  I  rather  think,  that  if  the 
Duke  were  recalled  at  this  moment,  to  be  appointed  to  the 
situation,  which  I  have  suggested,  and  that  every  possible 
pains  were  taken,  as  they  ought  to  be,  to  obviate  every 
idea  of  imputation  upon  him  for  any  failure  in  the  cam- 
paign, that  his  recall  might  be  effected,  without  pain  to 
his  feelings,  and  without  injury  to  his  reputation. 

At  the  same  time  I  don't  say,  that  the  measure  would 
be  desirable,  if  the  Army  was  at  this  moment  in  the  most 
difficult  situation.  You  will  receive  from  the  Duke  an 
account  of  the  last  news  from  Gen.  Clerfayt.  On  every 
supposition  of  what  may  happen  in  consequence,  nice 
operations  may  be  necessary,  and  an  action  possibly  take 
place.  I  cannot  dissemble  my  opinion,  that  I  should 
think  the  army  in  either  of  those  cases  safer  under  the 
conduct  of  Lord  Corn wallis  than  under  the  Duke.  Though 
the  Duke  is  exerting  himself  with  great  activity  and 
very  considerable  address,  though  his  conduct  has  been 
hitherto  very  judicious  and  his  views  perfectly  just, 
He  has  failed  by  some  means  or  other,  of  obtaining  the 
confidence  of  the  Army,  and  I  tremble  for  the  effect, 
which,  in  critical  circumstances,  the  want  of  that  con- 
fidence may  produce. 

This  is  the  best  exposition  perhaps,  that  I  can  give 
of  the  state  of  the  case,  as  it  appears  to  me.  The  appoint- 
ment of  Lord  Cornwalhs,  if  it  should  be  thought  desireable, 
and  if  it  should  be  possible,  at  the  present  moment,  must 
appear  rather  as  the  consequence  of  this  new  position  of 
the  Austrians,  or  of  reasons  existing,  when  I  came  over. 


1794]      THE  STUPIDITY  OF  THE  DUTCH  251 

rather  than  of  the  last  movement  of  the  Duke  of  York. 
With  them  indeed  it  must  not  appear  (as  it  could  not 
without  great  injustice,)  to  be  connected  at  all. 

[P.S.]  It  would  be  very  desireable,  in  the  opinion,  of 
Mr.  Gunning,  if  a  quantity  of  porter  could  be  sent  out  for 
the  use  of  the  convalescents  in  the  Hospitals,  in  lieu  of 
the  wine  or  spirits,  which  they  now  have.  The  principal 
Hospital  at  present,  to  which  this  could  be  sent,  is  at 
Dordrecht. 

Nothing  can  equal  the  examples  of  stupidity  and 
brutality,  that  occur  among  the  Dutch.  It  is  with 
the  utmost  difficulty,  that  a  place  of  reception  has  been 
procured  to  day  for  some  hundred  sick,  who,  if  not 
received  at  Nimeguen,  must  have  been  left  in  the  open 
air  ;  and  Maestricht  is  confessedly  without  anything  like 
an  adequate  supply  of  ammunition. — They  are  Chicaning 
about  the  return  of  the  British  troops  borrowed  for  a 
short  time  for  Bergen-op-Zoom,  &c.,  and  Crevecoeur,  when 
our  troops  are  withdrawn,  will  hardly  be  secure  against  a 
coup-de-main.  There  is  no  other  way,  however,  I  am 
convinced,  than  by  showing  them,  that  if  they  will  not 
strive  to  keep  themselves  above  water,  they  will  be 
left  to  sink.^ 


Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

Vienna  :    September  22,  1794 

I  should  have  answered  your  letter  of  the  5th  from  Bois- 
le-Duc  by  our  last  Messenger,  if  you  had  not  appeared 
to  be  on  the  Point  of  returning  home,  in  which  case  I 
knew  you  would  receive  the  Dispatch  he  carried,  which 
will  have  contained  the  completest  Answer  to  it. 

You  will  have  seen,  before  this  reaches  you,  in  the 
several  Dispatches  we  have  sent  from  hence,  the  im- 
possibility of  adopting  the  Plan  respecting  the  Command 
of  the  Army  suggested  in  your  letter  to  H.R.H.,  which 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  66. 


252  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Plan  we  had  already  been  charged  to  propose  here,  but 
had  found  that  it  was  perfectly  out  of  the  Question  from 
the  Age  and  Infirmities  of  Marshal  Lacy,  the  extreme  ill 
health  of  General  Brown,  and  the  absolute  refusal  on  the 
part  of  this  Government  to  consent  to  an  Arrangement 
which  should  place  the  Archduke  nominally  at  the 
Head  of  the  Army  and  give  the  real  Command  to  General 
Mack.  If,  therefore,  we  had  had  an  Option  of  proposing 
either  of  these  Plans  to  the  Consideration  of  this  Govern- 
ment the  Impracticability  of  that  mentioned  in  your 
Letter  would  have  at  once  decided  that  question  ;  but 
the  Instruction  we  received  from  London  bj^  the  same 
Messenger  left  us  in  fact  no  Option  upon  the  Subject. 
They  represented  Lord  Cornwallis's  Appointment  as 
having  actually  taken  place,  and  it  consequently  became 
a  part  of  the  most  urgent  necessity  to  obtain  Orders  from 
hence  to  General  Clerfa^^t  to  guard  against  any  Mis- 
understanding which  might  arise  from  such  a  Change 
in  the  Command  for  the  present  Campaign,  even  though 
they  should  not  consent  to  the  arrangement  proposed 
for  the  next.  We,  therefore,  did  not  think  ourselves 
justified  in  delaying  an  Application  for  this  purpose  a 
single  day,  more  especially  as  we  were  not  certain  that 
Lord  Cornwallis  rAight  not  have  actually  joined  the  Army 
before  the  Return  of  the  Messenger,  and  as  we  knew 
at  the  same  time  that  the  other  expedient  which  had  been 
thought  of  could  not  be  carried  into  execution. 

What  the  Event  of  our  Negotiation  on  this  Point  has 
been,  you  will  perceive  from  our  last  dispatches,  in  which 
it  is  described  more  at  length  than  I  have  time  to  do  in 
this  letter  ;  I  can  only  say  generally,  that  though  we  have 
certainly  no  great  reason  to  be  much  better  satisfied  with 
the  dispositions  we  find  in  the  Ministers  here  than  you  had 
with  the  Account  you  received  of  the  proceedings  of  their 
Generals  in  the  Low  Countries,  I  still  hope  that  it  may 
be  possible  to  find  some  means  or  other  of  attaching  them 
sufiiciently  to  our  Interest,  which  is  at  the  same  time 


1794]  THE  AUSTRIAN  RETREAT  253 

their  own,  without  making  Sacrifices  to  them  for  which 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  justification  in  reasoning 
beforehand,  and  which  would  not  promise  such  conse- 
quences as  even  to  furnish  a  good  defence  for  them  in 
future.  To  carry  into  execution  a  System  of  this  Descrip- 
tion must  be  the  Business  of  a  longer  Residence  here  than 
I  flatter  myself  is  to  be  my  lot  ;  as  I  hope  and  trust  that 
before  you  receive  this,  our  Conge  will  have  been  sent  to  us. 
I  need  not  say  with  how  much  Impatience  I  look  forward 
to  that  period,  nor  how  much  satisfaction  I  shall  feel 
at  being  with  you  again  in  England.  Granville  meant 
to  write  a  line  or  two  to  you  by  this  Messenger  to  thank 
you  for  your  letter,  if  he  had  had  time,  but  as  he  is  obliged 
to  write  a  private  letter  to  his  brother,  and  we  wish  to  send 
the  Messenger  off  without  delay,  he  desires  me  to  make 
his  kindest  remembrances  to  you.^ 

William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 
Private  Downing  Street 

September  25,  1794 

As  in  your  Letter  of  the  21st,  which  I  received  this 
morning,  you  do  not  say  when  you  should  quit  head- 
Quarters,  I  take  the  chance  of  a  Letter  still  finding  you 
there  or  at  least  meeting  you  in  Holland. 

The  account  of  the  last  Austrian  Retreat  ^  in  addition 
to  all  the  other  Circumstances  which  were  before  us, 
seems  to  press  for  an  almost  instant  decision.  \\Tiatever 
is  the  further  Plan  of  this  Campaign,  I  am  clear,  and  all 
whom  I  could  consult  on  such  a  subject  agree  with  me, 
that  we  must  change  as  soon  as  we  can  the  Command  of 
our  Army  in  Flanders,  taking  care  to  do  it  with  every 
possible  Attention  to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  to  avoid 
any  Imputation  on  his  Retreat.  That  Point,  I  hope, 
is    secured   already.      The   next    Question    is   whether, 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845!.  129. 

2  General  Clerfayt  was  defeated  by  Marshal  Jourdan  on  Sept.  i8. 


254  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

supposing  the  Duke  of  York  to  quit,  Lord  Cornwallis  can 
be  induced  to  take  the  Command.  This  is  at  least  doubtful, 
but  I  think  it  will  be  possible  to  ascertain  that  Point 
before  I  can  hear  from  you  again. — I  cannot,  on  various 
Accounts,  undertake  to  say  positively  that  we  could  open 
the  situation  of  Commander-in-Chief  here  for  the  Duke 
of  York. — That  and  the  Master  General  of  the  Ordnance 
can  never,  I  think,  be  joined  in  one  Person,  supposing 
we  could  vacate  both  without  difficulty.  I  am  not  sure, 
however,  how  far  the  King  would  like  a  Prince  of  the 
Blood  {even  the  Duke  of  York)  at  the  Head  of  the  Army 
at  home.  And  I  own  I  am  not  without  an  apprehension 
how  far  any  one  who  has  commanded  an  Army  abroad, 
can  make  it  his  chief  Object  at  home  to  assist  in  bringing 
forward  troops  to  be  sent  under  the  Command  of  his 
Successor.  The  Mode  of  stating  to  the  King  the  Necessity 
of  recalling  the  Duke  of  York  is  one  of  the  Points  on  which 
I  have  thought  a  great  deal.  I  am  persuaded  there  is  no 
way  of  doing  it  so  good  as  letting  him  see  it  exactly  as  it 
has  arisen.  It  would  be  impossible  to  state  it  to  him  under 
the  Cover  of  general  circumstances,  without  his  guessing 
that  the  Representation  came  from  you  ;  and  if  he  does 
not  know  the  whole,  he  will  fancy  every  sort  of  intrigue 
the  Reverse  of  the  Truth.  I  wish,  therefore,  your  per- 
mission to  send  to  the  King  your  letters  on  the  Subject. 
The  manner  in  which  they  are  written  will  best  prove  the 
Sincerity  and  Fairness  of  the  whole  Transaction.  They 
will  shew  that  they  were  not  written  in  order  to  be  shewn, 
and  they  vnll  shew,  too,  in  a  way  which  must  strike  the 
King's  mind,  the  attachment  to  the  Duke  of  York,  which 
mixes  itself  so  strongly  with  what  3^ou  feel  necessary 
for  the  Public  Service.  I  feel,  nevertheless,  that  this  is 
proposing  to  you  to  have  j^our  name  brought  before  the 
King  in  a  way  that  is  not  pleasing.  I  scruple  it  the  less 
because  I  must  take  at  least  my  share  with  you  in  so  un- 
pleasant a  Task,  and  because  I  am  sure  he  is  as  much  inter- 
ested in  the  grounds  which  lead  to  the  Measure  as  we  are. — 


1794]  "  A  SLEEPING  COUNTRY  "  255 

As  you  probably  could  have  no  copies  of  your  Letters  on 
this  Subject  and  may  wish  to  look  at  them  again  before 
you  give  me  an  answer,  I  send  them  enclosed.  I  must, 
however,  say  that  I  think  no  second  thoughts  could  render 
them  more  adapted  to  the  Purpose  than  they  are  at  present. 

It  seems  a  little  unreasonable  to  multiply  disagreeable 
Commissions  ;  but  I  believe  there  is  nothing  will  want  a 
recommendation  to  j^'our  Mind  which  can  be  of  use  in  the 
present  Crisis.  Nothing  I  believe  could  be  so  useful,  as 
your  going  (for  as  many  days  as  you  can  spare)  when 
you  leave  head-Quarters,  to  The  Hague,  in  order  to  try 
whether  Courage  or  Shame  or  Fear  can  be  enough  roused 
among  the  Dutch  to  give  themselves  and  us  some  Benefit 
from  their  Exertions.  Even  our  Ambassador,  Lord  St. 
Helens,  tho'  sensible  and  full  of  many  good  Qualities, 
is  not  made  to  animate  a  sleeping  Country,  and  would 
be  the  better  for  being  a  little  electrified.  It  is  im- 
possible but  that  Holland  could  still  do  much,  and  knowing 
all  the  Points  where  their  efforts  can  be  best  directed,  in 
the  present  moment,  you  can,  I  am  sure,  be  of  more  use 
there  than  any  one.  I  believe  you  know  Lord  St.  Helens, 
who  will  be  most  thankful  for  your  assistance.  Lord 
Grenville  writes  to  him  to  prepare  him  for  your  stopping 
in  your  Way  thro'  The  Hague,  in  order  to  assist  in  con- 
cocting what  may  be  necessary  in  the  Present  Crisis.  To 
shew  you  how  things  stand  with  Holland,  I  enclose  a 
Copy  of  the  Dispatch  which  Lord  Grenville  writes  to-night 
to  Lord  St.  Helens.  The  Duke  of  Portland  is  writing  to 
General  Bentinck  to  enforce  the  same  sort  of  language  in 
a  less  Official  Way. 

As  to  the  plan  for  the  rest  of  the  Campaign,  little  can 
be  said  till  one  knows  who  are  to  be  Generals,  and  what 
may  be  expected  from  Allies.  But  I  still  cannot  persuade 
myself  that  it  is  possible  for  such  a  place  as  Maestricht 
to  be  taken  in  the  presence  of  140,000  Men,  of  the  best 
Troops  in  Europe.^     Perhaps,  if  Vigor  could  at  last  be 

^  Maestricht  was  taken  by  Jourdan  before  the  close  of  the  year. 


256  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

given  to  the  Combined  Armies,  the  Attempt  on  the  Part 
of  the  Enemy  might  lead  to  good.  On  the  Side  of 
Brittany  there  seems  an  opening,  which  has  the  pecuHar 
Advantage  belonging  to  it  (if  it  turns  out  as  stated)  that 
it  need  not  be  made  use  of  till  nearly  the  close  of  active 
Operations  in  Flanders.  I  am  not  ^-et  sure  that  the 
Accounts  can  be  relied  on,  but  if  they  can  they  are 
favourable  enough  to  give  more  than  a  gleam  of  hope, 
even  under  the  Succession  of  Bad  News  from  Flanders.^ 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

Bulstrode  :  October  8,  1794 
I  have  had  a  short  but  very  decisive  conversation  with 
Lord  Fitzwilliam.  He  is  determined  to  resign  the  Presi- 
dency unless  he  is  declared  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  the 
first  time  the  King  comes  to  town,  or  that  he  is  authorized 
to  name  the  day  on  which  that  declaration  is  to  be  made. 
You  already  know  my  sentiments  and  determination  could 
He  be  prevailed  upon  to  retain  the  Presidency.  Perhaps 
I  have  waited  too  long  already  for  Lord  Fitzwilliam's 
appointment,  but  I  cannot  forget  myself  so  far  or  be  so 
unmindful  of  one  of  the  principal  inducements  for  my 
accepting  office  as  to  suffer  the  Government  of  Ireland  to 
continue  to  be  administered  by  any  person  in  whom  I 
have  not  an  implicit  confidence.  My  reason  for  wishing 
to  convey  this  determination  to  Pitt  through  You  is  to 
avoid  every  expression  that  might  sound  rash  or  that 
would  be  construed  as  implying  a  doubt  of  his  good 
intentions  and  good  faith.  Pray,  bring  this  business  to 
a  speedy  issue. ^ 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

October  11,  1794 

I  have  seen  Lord  Fitzwilliam  and  he  has  written  already 

to  Ponsonby  and  Grattan  to  inform  them  of  his  deter- 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  70.  2  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  45. 


1794]         THE  NEW  LORD-LIEUTENANT  257 

mination,  or  at  least  to  appoint  them  to  meet  him  for  that 
purpose  to-morrow.  To  crown  the  whole,  when  I  came 
home,  I  found  a  letter  from  Douglas  to  King,  desiring 
to  know  what  progress  the  King's  letters  were  in,  which 
appointed  him  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Bishop  of 
Cloyne  Provost,  and  urging  King  to  forward  them  as  he 
(Douglas)  intended  setting  out  for  Ireland  on  Monday  or 
Tuesday  if  the  above  should  permit.  The  whole  of  this 
must  be  stopped  and  given  up  and  the  other  conditions 
so  arranged  as  to  ensure  their  being  complied  with  in  a 
reasonable  time,  or  I  must  see  Pitt  to-morrow  or  make 
an  appointment  with  him  for  the  next  day,  to  desire  him 
to  apprize  the  King  that  I  think  it  my  duty  to  lay  the 
Seals  at  His  Majesty's  feet  the  first  time  he  comes  to 
town.  I  am  very  sorry  for  it — and  devoutly  wish  I  had 
never  come  into  office.^ 

Pitt  now  undertook  to  appoint  Lord  Fitzwilliam  to  the 
office  of  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  men  met  to  discuss  the  question  of  Administration, 
and  the  Prime  Minister  expressed  his  wish  that  no 
important  changes  in  the  Staff  should  be  made,  and,  while 
stating  that  he  was  in  favour  of  Catholic  emancipation, 
said  that  he  could  not  entertain  any  such  measure  during 
the  war. 

Earl  Fitzwilliam  to  William  Windham 

October  11,  1794 
As  we  enter'd  into  Administration  together  and  pro- 
fessedly as  members  of  one  corps,  I  must  not  take  the  very 
important  step  of  retiring  from  Administration  without 
giving  you  the  earliest  notice  of  my  intentions  and  my 
reasons  for  doing  so.  Stripp'd  of  the  history  of  other 
transactions  which  led  to  my  suppos'd  destination  to 
Ireland,   all  the  particulars  of    which  you  are  full  as 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  47 

R 


258  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

intimately  acquainted  with  as  I  am,  nay,  better,  so  much 
of  the  previous  negociation  having  pass'd  through  your 
hands,  the  story  is  not  very  long.  I  believe  (but  I  am  not 
quite  sure)  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  go  to  Ireland,  but 
this  permission  is  under  conditions  :  and  the  conditions 
are  in  substance,  that  I  step  into  Lord  Westmoreland's 
old  Shoes — that  I  put  on  the  old  trappings,  and  submit 
to  the  old  chains, — the  men,  and,  of  consequence,  the 
system  of  measures  to  remain  the  same,  with  or  without 
my  approbation,  and  without  any  consideration  for  my 
responsibility  to  the  King,  the  Country,  and  my  own 
reputation — ^these  are  now  the  terms. 

Will  any  man  say,  would  any  man  have  presum'd  to 
have  said  last  July,  that  at  that  time,  when  upon  negocia- 
tion the  management  of  Ireland  was  transfer'd  to  the 
care  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  these  were  the  terms  or 
the  spirit  of  the  terms  ?  For  the  safety  and  general  good  of 
Ireland,  in  my  humble  opinion  they  should  not  be  insisted 
on  ;  for  the  honor  of  the  individual  they  must  be  rejected 
by  me  :  and  looking  upon  the  proposal  as  a  mark  of 
indignity  offer'd  to  me,  it  would  be  fit  for  me  to  mark  my 
sense  of  it.  But  still  what  affects  myself  does  not  weigh 
now  with  me.  In  consequence  of  the  certainty  I  enter- 
tain'd  of  going  to  Ireland,  I  thought  it  a  duty  to  look 
forward  to  the  management  of  the  country,  and  therefore 
invited  the  most  respectable  persons  of  the  Kingdom  to 
communicate  confidentially  with  me,  and  upon  the  credit 
of  the  situation  I  held  myself  out  as  intended  to  fill,  I 
found  them  willing  to  let  me  into  many  of  their  private 
thoughts  and  opinions  upon  such  things  as  I  think  they 
would  not  have  open'd  themselves  upon  under  other 
circumstances.  To  them  I  feel  myself  bound  in  honor 
to  atone  for  having  misled  them  :  to  my  own  character 
I  am  bound  to  make  clear  in  the  most  unequivocal 
and  most  overt  manner,  that  if  I  have  misled  and 
duped,  I  have  done  so  because  I  was  misled  and  duped 
myself ;    no  act  will   be    so   overt;    none   will    so   un- 


17943  IRISH  AFFAIRS  259 

equivocally  mark  a  sense  of  indignity  and  resentment,  as  a 
retreat  from  that  Government  which  I  charge  with  having 
duped  me.  In  these  sentiments  and  for  these  purposes  I 
mean  to  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  entreating  his 
Majesty's  permission  to  give  in  my  resignation.  The  Duke 
of  Portland  and  Lord  Mansfield  are  both  acquainted  with 
my  intention.  Lord  Spencer's  great  distance  prevents  my 
communicating  it  to  him.^ 


The  Earl  of  Mansfield  to  William  Windham 
Private  Kenwood  :  October  12,  1794 

I  will  make  no  apology  for  troubling  you  upon  a  subject 
that  is  equally  interesting  to  us  both.  I  see,  with  infinite 
concern,  that  we  are  upon  the  brink  of  a  Rupture,  the 
evil  consequences  of  which  are  such  as  I  am  sure  no  man 
living  can  calculate  ;  a  few  words  of  explanation  at  the 
time  would  have  prevented  a  great  part  of  the  mischief. 
I  knew  from  the  Duke  of  Portland  from  time  to  time 
every  thing  that  passed,  and  can  safely  venture  to  assert 
that,  had  he  conceived  it  possible  that  he  was  not  to  have 
the  entire  and  perfect  management  of  all  Irish  business, 
the  negotiation  would  have  instantly  stopped.  The 
prospect  of  being  of  use  in  Ireland  was  his  great  induce- 
ment. He  wished  himself  to  go  thither,  which  I  for  one 
combated  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  being  persuaded 
that  it  was  essential  to  the  success  of  the  arrangement 
which  you  will  remember  I  had  so  much  at  heart,  that  he 
should  hold  a  great,  responsible  situation  in  the  Cabinet. 
His  desire  of  going  to  Ireland  is  irrefragable  evidence  of 
the  light  in  which  he  considered  what  had  passed  upon 
the  subject.  Had  he  imagined  that  he  was  to  follow  the 
same  plan  that  had  been  followed  by  Lord  Westmoreland, 
and  was  to  work  with  the  same  instruments,  he  would  no 
more  have  accepted  the  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  than  he 
would  have  taken  the  Government  of  Botany  Bay.     In 

»  Add.  MSS.  37874  f.  83. 


26o  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

consequence  of  the  repeated  sollicitations  to  him  not  to 
think  ot  Ireland  for  himself,  he  relinquished  that  idea, 
and  then  thought  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  who,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  a  delicacy  to  Lady  Fitzwilliam,  would  have 
accepted  instantly,  and  all  this  mischief  would  have  been 
prevented. 

It  was  perfectly  understood  that  Lord  Westmoreland 
was  to  be  properly  provided  for,  that  is,  that,  the  moment 
an  opportunity  offer 'd  of  providing  for  him  properly  in 
any  department,  that  opportunity  was  to  be  seized  and 
he  was  to  be  considered  as  having  a  prior  claim  to  any 
other  person  to  a  situation  similar  to  that  which  he 
formerly  enjoyed.  With  respect  to  the  Chancellor  of 
Ireland,  I  always  understood  that  it  was  a  thing  perfectly 
settled  that  the  Duke  of  Portland  was  to  have  the  entire 
management  of  all  Irish  business,  that  it  was  not  to  be 
merely  nommally  in  his  department,  but  that  the  real 
management  was  to  be  in  him.  It  followed,  of  necessary 
consequence,  that  the  Lord  Lieutenant  he  named  was  not 
to  use  the  Irish  in  the  land,  but  was  to  make  use  of  other 
means  ;  was,  in  a  word,  to  connect  himself  with  the 
Ponsonbys  and  their  friends.  Of  all  this  I  could  give 
such  evidence  as  would  be  received  in  a  Court  of  Justice. 
The  fair  and  manly  manner  in  which  Mr.  Pitt  seems 
determined  to  support  the  war  makes  me  regret  this 
misunderstanding  the  more.  I  say  it  with  heartfelt 
anguish.  My  clear  opinion  is  that,  if  there  be  a  rupture 
at  present,  the  country  is  undone.^ 

William  Windham  to  Earl  Fitzwilliam 

October  12,  1794 

I  hope  that  in  pursuit  of  a  purpose,  pregnant  with  con- 
sequences so  very  serious,  you  will  not  suffer  yourself  to 
act  from  any  impulse  of  passion,  nor  under  any  mis- 
apprehension of  the  merits  of  the  case.     Is  the  embarrass- 

1  Add.  MSS  Z7^7A  ^'  28. 


1794]         AN  EMBARRASSING  POSITION  261 

ment  that  has  arisen,  fairly  to  be  charged  to  the  account 
of  Pitt  ;  and  are  the  means  of  reheving  it,  such,  in  all 
their  parts,  as  He  can  properly  be  expected  to  furnish  ? 

The  first  consideration  simply  is,  did  Pitt  or  did  He  not 
say  from  the  beginning,  that  He  could  not  open  the  situa- 
tion of  Ireland  till  he  had  provided  for  Lord  Westmoreland 
another  at  his  return,  as  good  as  that  which  he  held  before 
his  appointment  ?  The  second  is,  can  Pitt  without  dis- 
honour suffer  a  proscription  of  those,  who  are  principally 
marked  out  to  enmity,  (and  will  be  represented  as  being 
wholly  so)  in  consequence  of  their  support  of  his  former 
measures,  and  has  not  He  some  colour  for  saying  that  if  a 
measure  so  strong  as  the  removal  of  the  C[hancellor]  was 
intended,  it  ought  to  have  been  signified,  when  the  terms 
of  the  arrangement  were  first  settled. 

The  evil  has  been,  that  things  have  been  suffered  to  lye 
under  a  supposed  General  understanding,  which  ought 
to  have  been  distinctly  brought  forward,  and  which  were 
not  of  that  sort,  that  an  agreement  to  them  should  have 
been  preserved.  I  really  think,  to  speak  in  fairness,  that 
Pitt  could  hardly  have  been  expected,  when  he  was 
augmenting  his  administration  by  a  junction  with  another 
party,  to  give  up  at  one  stroke  all  his  friends  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water,  to  the  mercy  of  those,  with  whom  he 
was  connecting  himself.  Should  you  in  similar  circum- 
stances have  thought  such  a  conduct  warrantable  in 
yourself  ?  We  must  consider  them  not  according  to  their 
actual  merits,  but  according  to  their  merits,  as  they 
appear  to  him,  or  at  least  as  He  is  bound  to  consider  them. 

What  I  wish  is  that  it  should  be  considered  fairly,  how 
much  change  is  absolutely  necessary  for  carrying  on  the 
Government,  according  to  your  own,  and  the  Duke  ol 
Portland's  ideas  (for  such  a  change  only  can  in  anywise 
be  insisted  on)  ;  and  then  what  means  may  be  desired  for 
effecting  that,  without  violating  the  protection  which 
Pitt  is  called  upon  to  give  to  those,  who  have  supported 
uniformly  his  former  government.     The  question  of  Lord 


262  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Mansfield  is  a  separate  consideration,  and  must  be  decided 
by  inquiring  which  of  the  two,  He  or  Lord  Westmorland, 
should  in  reason  be  expected  to  give  way. 

If,  after  every  endeavour  used,  these  opposite  considera- 
tions must  at  last  remain  irreconcilable,  there  will  at  least 
be  the  consolation  of  thinking,  that  the  ruin  which  will 
ensue,  and  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  foretell  the  extent, 
will  not  have  happened  but  by  the  unhappy  course 
of  things  and  not  for  want  of  the  exertions  of  those, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  prevent  it.^ 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

October  16,  1794 

My  state  of  mind  was  not  the  most  enviable  before 
the  present  unhappy  misunderstanding.  I  cannot  think 
without  horror  on  the  effects  of  a  breach  in  the  Ministry 
in  this  state  of  our  affairs,  and  just  before  the  meeting  of 
Parliament.  It  will  complete  our  ruin  !  Every  honest 
man  in  every  country  in  Europe  will  by  this  event  be  cast 
into  dismay  and  despair.  It  looks  as  if  the  hand  of  God 
was  in  this,  as  it  is  strongly  marked  in  all  the  rest. 
However,  we  must  still  use  our  poor  human  prudence, 
and  our  feeble  human  efforts,  as  if  things  were  not,  what 
I  greatly  fear  they  are,  predetermined.  I  am  out  of 
action,  but  not  out  of  anxiety.  I  feel  deeply  for  yourself 
— ^I  feel  for  my  other  friends — ^I  feel  for  the  general  cause. 
Ireland,  the  country  in  which  I  was  born,  is  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  dispute  :  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  the  man  in  the 
world  I  am  most  obliged  to,  is  the  party  chiefly  concerned 
in  it.  To  Mr.  Pitt — ^the  other  party — I  have  strong  and 
recent  obligations.  Before  I  had  any  such,  I  was  clearly 
of  opinion  that  his  power,  and  all  the  chance  we  have  for 
the  rescue  of  Europe,  were  inseparably  connected.  You 
know  that,  though  I  had  no  part  in  the  actual  formation 
of  the  present  system  of  a  coalesced  Ministry,  that  no  pains 

1  Add.  MSS.  37874  f.  85. 


1794]  BURKE'S  APPEAL  263 

were  wanting  on  my  part  to  produce  the  dispositions 
which  led  to  it.  You,  of  all  men,  therefore,  are  the  best 
judge  how  much  I  am  in  earnest  that  this  horrible  breach 
should  not  be  made.  How  to  prevent  it  I  know  not ;  I 
cannot  advise.  I  can  only  make  statements,  which  I 
submit  entirely  to  your  judgment.  I  do  not  write  to 
any  one  else,  because  you  alone  have  desired  to  hear  my 
sentiments  on  this  subject.  I  will  trouble  you  with  no 
other  view  of  the  matter  than  as  it  concerns  the  interest; 
the  stability,  perhaps  the  existence,  of  Mr.  Pitt's  power. 
I  was  one  of  those  who  were  of  opinion  that  he  could  have 
stood  merely  on  his  own  basis  ;  but  this  was  my  private 
speculation,  and  hardly  justified,  I  fear,  by  the  experi- 
ence of  mankind  in  cases  any  way  similar.  But  to  have 
gone  on  without  this  new  connection,  and  to  bear  the 
loss  of  it,  are  two  very  different  things.  The  accession 
of  a  great  mass  of  reputation  taken  out  of  a  state  of  very 
perilous  and  critical  neutrality,  and  brought  to  the  decided 
support  of  the  Crown,  and  an  actual  participation  in  the 
responsibility  of  measures  rendered  questionable  by  very 
great  misfortunes,  were  the  advantages  which  Mr.  Pitt 
derived  from  a  coalition  with  you  and  your  friends. 

I  say  nothing  just  now  of  your  weight  in  the  country; 
and  the  abilities  which,  in  your  several  ways,  you  possess. 
I  rest  only  on  your  character  and  reputation  for  integrity, 
independence,  and  dignity  of  mind.  This  is  everything  at 
a  moment,  when  opinion  (never  without  its  effect)  has 
obtained  a  greater  dominion  over  human  affairs  than 
ever  it  possessed  ;  and  which  must  grow  just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  implicit  reverence  for  old  institutions  is  found 
to  decline.  They  who  will  say  that  the  very  name  which 
you  and  the  Duke  of  Portland  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam  and 
Lord  Spencer  have  as  men  of  unblemished  honour  and 
great  public  spirit,  is  of  no  use  to  the  Crown  at  this  time; 
talk  like  flatterers  who  despise  the  understandings  of 
those  whose  favour  they  court.  It  is  as  much  Mr. 
Pitt's  interest,  as  a  faithful  and  zealous  servant  of  the 


264  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

Crown  (as  I  am  sure  he  is),  to  hold  high  your  honour  and 
estimation  with  the  pubHc,  as  it  is  your  own.  Can  it  be 
preserved,  if  Lord  FitzwilHam  continues  in  office  after  all 
that  has  happened,  consistently  with  the  reputation  he 
has  obtained  ;  and  which,  as  a  sacred  trust  for  the  King 
and  country,  he  is  bound  to  keep,  as  well  as  for  his  own 
inward  satisfaction  ?  I  will  not  say  that  Lord  Fitz- 
wilHam has  not,  in  some  respects,  acted  with  a  degree  of 
indiscretion.  The  question  is,  whether  Mr.  Pitt  can  or 
ought  to  take  advantage  of  it  to  his  own  material 
prejudice  ? 

You  are  better  acquainted  than  I  am  with  the  terms, 
actual  or  understood,  upon  which  the  Duke  of  Portland, 
acting  for  himself  and  others,  has  accepted  office.  I  know 
nothing  of  them,  but  by  a  single  conversation  with  him. 
From  thence  I  learned  that  (whether  authorised  or  not) 
he  considered  without  a  doubt  that  the  administration  of 
Ireland  was  left  wholly  to  him,  and  without  any  other 
reserves  than  what  are  supposed  in  every  wise  and  sober 
servant  of  the  Crown.  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  I  know,  con- 
ceived things  exactly  in  that  manner,  and  proceeded  as 
if  there  was  no  controversy  whatever  on  the  subject.  He 
hesitated  a  long  time  whether  he  should  take  the  station  ; 
but  when  he  agreed  to  it,  he  thought  he  had  obliged  the 
Ministry,  and  done  what  was  pleasant  to  the  King,  in 
going  into  an  office  of  great  difficulty  and  heavy  responsi- 
bility. He  foresaw  no  other  obstacles  than  what  were 
found  in  his  own  inclinations,  the  nature  of  the  employ- 
ment, and  the  circumstances  in  which  Ireland  stands. 
He,  therefore,  invited  several  persons  to  converse  with 
him  in  all  the  confidence  with  which  men  ought  to  open 
themselves  to  a  person  of  honour,  who,  though  not  actually, 
was  virtually  in  office.  WTiether  the  Duke  of  Portland 
and  Lord  Fitzwilliam  had  reason  for  this  entire  security, 
you  are  better  able  to  judge  than  I  am.  I  am  sure  they 
cpnceived  things  in  the  light  I  state  them,  though  I  really 
think  that  they  never  can  reconcile  it  to  the  rigid  rules 


1794]     PITT  THE  REAL  SEAT  OF  POWER         265 

of  prudence  with  regard  to  their  own  safety,  or  to  an 
entire  decorum  with  regard  to  the  other  Cabinet  Ministers; 
to  go  so  far  into  detail  as  has  been  done  until  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  appointment  were  settled  in  a  more 
distinct  and  specific  manner  than  they  had  been.  But 
I  am  sure  they  thought  that  a  very  large  discretion  was 
committed  to  them  ;  and  I  am  equally  sure  that  their 
general  places  (so  far  as  I  know  them)  were  perfectly 
upright  and  perfectly  well  understood  for  the  King's 
service  and  the  good  of  his  empire.  I  admit,  and  lament, 
the  error  into  which  they  have  fallen.  It  must  be  very 
great,  as  it  seems  Mr.  Pitt  had  no  thought  at  all  of  a 
change  in  the  Irish  Government ;  or,  if  he  had,  it  was 
dependent  on  Lord  Westmoreland's  sense  of  the  fitness 
of  some  other  office  to  accommodate  him  on  his  resigna- 
tion of  the  great  place  which,  for  five  or  six  years,  he  has 
held.  This  puts  off  the  business  sine  die.  These  are  some 
of  the  mischiefs  which  arise  from  a  want  of  clear  explana- 
tion on  the  first  digestion  of  any  political  system. 

If  an  agreement  is  wished,  criminations  and  recrimina- 
tions, charges  and  defences,  are  not  the  way  to  it.  If 
the  communication  hitherto  has  not  been  as  full  and  as 
confidential  as  it  ought  to  have  been,  let  it  be  so  now. 
Let  it  be  such  as  becomes  men  engaged  in  the  same  cause, 
with  the  interest  and  with  the  same  sense  of  the  arduous 
trust  which,  in  the  most  critical  of  all  times,  has  been 
delivered  over  to  them  by  their  King  and  country.  In 
this  dreadful  situation  of  things,  is  it  not  clearly  Mr. 
Pitt's  interest,  without  considering  whether  he  has  a  case 
as  against  his  colleagues  or  not,  to  keep  up  the  reputation 
of  those  who  came  to  his  aid  under  circumstances  liable 
to  misconstruction  ;  liable  to  the  exaggerated  imputa- 
tions of  men,  able,  dexterous,  and  eloquent  ;  and  who 
came  to  him  when  the  whole  of  the  affairs  under  his 
administration  bore  the  worst  aspect  that  can  be  imagined  ? 
I  am  well  aware  that  there  is  a  sort  of  politicians  who 
would  tell  Mr.   Pitt  that   this  disgracing  his  colleagues 


266  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

would  be  to  him  a  signal  triumph,  and  that  it  would  be  to 
the  public  a  splendid  mark  of  his  power  and  superiority. 
But  alas  !  it  would  be  a  triumph  over  his  own  force.  His 
paramount  power  is  well  understood.  His  power  is  an 
object  rather  of  envy  and  terror,  than  of  contempt.  I 
am  no  great  dealer  in  general  maxims,  I  am  sensible 
how  much  the  best  of  them  are  controlled  by  circum- 
stances. But  I  am  satisfied,  that  where  the  most  real 
and  solid  power  exists,  there  it  is  the  most  necessary,  every 
now  and  then,  to  yield,  not  only  from  the  real  advantages 
of  practicability,  but  from  the  advantages  which  attend 
the  very  appearance  of  it.  What  is  given  up  by  power, 
IS  a  mark  of  moderation  ;  what  is  given  up  because  it 
cannot  be  kept,  is  a  mark  of  servility  and  meanness. 
What  coffee-house  politician  is  so  grossly  ignorant  as 
not  to  know  that  the  real  seat  of  power  is  in  Mr.  Pitt,  and 
in  none  of  you  who  by  the  courtesy  of  England  are  called 
Ministers.  Whatever  he  gives  up  will  be  manifestly  for 
the  King's  service  ;  whatever  they  yield  will  be  thought 
to  flow  from  a  mean  desire  of  office,  to  be  held  without 
respect  or  consideration.  If  he  yields  any  point  he  will 
be  sure  to  put  out  his  concessions,  to  be  repaid  to  him 
with  usur}^  All  this  unfortunate  notion  of  triumph,  on 
the  one  part  and  the  other,  arises  from  the  idea,  that 
Ministry  is  not  one  thing,  but  composed  of  separate  and 
independent  parties — ^a  ruinous  idea,  which  I  have  done 
everything  in  my  power  to  discourage,  and  with  a  growing 
success,  I  can  say  almost  with  assurance,  that  if  Mr. 
Pitt  can  contrive  (and  it  is  worth  his  while  to  contrive  it) 
to  keep  his  new  acquisition  of  friends  in  good  humour  for 
six  months  more,  he  will  find  them  as  much  of  his  party, 
and  in  my  opinion,  more  surely  to  be  depended  upon,  than 
any  which  he  has  hitherto  considered  as  his  own.  It  is  of 
infinite  importance  to  him  to  have  it  thought  that  he  is  well 
connected  with  others  besides  those  who  are  believed  to 
depend  on  him. 

If  it  is  once  laid  down,  that  it  is  true  policy  in  Mr.  Pitt  to 


1794]  A  PAINFUL  SITUATION  267 

uphold  the  credit  of  his  colleagues  in  administration,  even 
under  some  difference  in  opinion,  the  question  will  be. 
Whether  the  present  is  not  a  case  of  too  much  importance 
to  be  included  in  that  general  policy,  and  that  Lord  Fitz- 
william  may  very  well  give  up  the  lieutenancy,  and  yet 
hold  his  office,  without  any  disgrace  ?  On  that,  I  think, 
there  can  be  little  difference  in  opinion.  He  must,  to  be 
sure,  resign  ;  and  resign  with  every  sentiment  of  dis- 
pleasure and  discontent.  This  I  have  not  advised  him 
to  do  ;  for,  most  certainly,  I  have  had  no  conversation 
with  him  on  the  subject ;  and  I  am  very  glad  I  have  not 
had  any  such  discourse.  But  the  thing  speaks  for  itself. 
He  has  consulted  with  many  people  from  Ireland,  of 
all  descriptions,  as  if  he  were  virtually  Lord-Lieutenant. 
The  Duke  of  Portland  has  acted  upon  that  supposi- 
tion as  a  fundamental  part  of  his  arrangement.  Lord 
Fitzwilliam  cannot  shrink  into  his  shell  again,  without 
being  thought  a  light  man,  in  whom  no  person  can  place 
any  confidence.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  takes  the 
sword,  not  only  without  power,  but  with  a  direct  negative 
put  upon  his  power,  he  is  a  Lord-Lieutenant  disgraced 
and  degraded.  With  infinite  sorrow  I  say  it — with 
sorrow  inexpressible — he  must  resign.  If  he  does,  the 
Duke  of  Portland  must  resign  too.  In  fact,  they  will  both 
consider  themselves  turned  out ;  and  I  know  it  will  be 
represented  to  them,  because  I  know  it  has  been  predicted 
to  them  that  their  being  brought  into  office  was  no  more 
than  a  stratagem,  to  make  them  break  with  their  friends 
and  original  natural  connections,  to  make  them  lose  all 
credit  with  the  independent  part  of  the  country,  and  then 
to  turn  them  out  as  objects  of  universal  scorn  and  derision 
without  party  or  adherents  to  resort  to  !  I  believe  Lord 
FitzwilHam  has  in  his  bureau  one  letter  to  this  effect — I 
well  recollect  that  he  was  much  affected  by  it,  and  indeed 
doubtful  of  accepting — ^perhaps  more  than  one.  I  am 
certain,  that  whether  they  stay  in  under  a  state  of  degra- 
dation, or  are  turned  out,  their  situation  will  be  terrible  ; 


268  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

and  such  as  will  be  apt  to  fill  men  with  rage  and  desperate 
resolutions.  Both  their  coming  in  and  their  going  out 
will  be  reviled  ;  and  they  will  be  ridiculed  and  insulted 
on  both  by  the  Opposition.  They  will  affect  to  pity  them. 
They  will  even  offer  to  pardon  them.  Amongst  Mr. 
Pitt's  old  adherents,  as  perhaps  you  know  as  well  as  I  do, 
there  were  many  who  liked  your  coming  in  as  little  as 
Mr.  Fox  or  Mr.  Sheridan  could  do.  They  considered 
Mr.  Pitt's  enlarging  his  bottom  as  an  interloping  on 
their  monopoly.  They  will  join  the  halloo  of  the  others. 
If  they  can  persuade  Mr.  Pitt  that  this  is  a  triumph,  he 
will  have  it.  But  may  God  in  His  goodness  avert  the 
consequences  from  him  and  all  of  us  ! 

'  But  wh}','  will  some  say,  '  should  not  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
take  the  Lord-Lieutenancy,  and  let  the  Chancellor  remain 
where  he  is  ?  He  will  be  good-humoured  and  subservient, 
and  let  the  Lord-Lieutenant  do  as  he  pleases.'  But,  after 
what  has  passed,  the  true  question  is,  which  of  these  two 
is  to  govern  Ireland  ?  I  think  I  know  what  a  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland  is,  or  I  know  nothing.  Without 
a  hearty  and  effectual  support  of  the  Minister  here,  he  is 
much  worse  than  a  mere  pageant.  A  man  in  the  pillory 
is  in  a  post  of  honour  in  comparison  of  such  a  Lord- 
Lieutenant.  '  But  Lord  Westmoreland  goes  on  very 
quietly.'  He  does  so.  He  has  no  discussions  with  the 
junto  who  have  annihilated  English  government.  Be  his 
abilities  and  his  spirit  what  they  may,  he  has  no  desire 
of  governing.  He  is  a  Basha  of  Egypt,  who  is  content  to 
let  the  Beys  act  as  they  think  proper.  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
is  a  high-minded  man,  a  man  of  very  great  parts,  and  a 
man  of  very  quick  feelings.  He  cannot  be  the  instrument 
of  the  junto,  with  the  name  of  the  King's  representative, 
if  he  would.  If  Lord  Fitzwilliam  was  to  be  sent  to  Ireland, 
to  be  exactly  as  Lord  Westmoreland  is,  I  undertake  to 
affirm,  that  a  worse  choice  for  that  purpose  could  not  be 
made.  If  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  what  Lord  Westmore- 
land does,  neither  ought  Lord  Westmoreland  to  be  re- 


1794]  THE  STATE  OF  IRELAND  269 

moved,  nor  the  Chancellor,  no,  nor  the  Chancellor's 
Train-bearer.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  has  no  business  there  at 
all.  He  has  fortune  enough.  He  has  rank  enough.  Here 
he  is  infinitely  more  at  his  ease,  and  he  is  of  infinitely 
more  use  here  than  he  can  be  there,  where  his  desire  of 
really  doing  business,  and  his  desire  of  being  the  real 
representative  of  the  Crown,  would  only  cause  to  him 
infinite  trouble  and  distress.  For  it  is  not  to  know 
Ireland  to  say,  that  what  is  called  opposition  is  what  will 
give  trouble  to  a  real  Viceroy.  His  embarrassments  are 
upon  the  part  of  those  who  ought  to  be  the  supports  of 
English  government ;  but  who  have  formed  themselves 
into  a  cabal  to  destroy  the  King's  authority,  and  to 
divide  the  country  as  a  spoil  amongst  one  another.  Non 
regnuin  sed  magnum  latrocinium  :  the  motto  which  ought 
to  be  put  under  the  harp.  This  is  not  talk.  I  can  put 
my  hand  on  the  instances,  and  not  a  doubt  would  remain 
on  your  mind  of  the  fact.  His  Majesty  has  the  patronage 
to  the  Pashalic,  as  the  Grand  Seignior  has  to  that  of 
Egypt,  and  that  is  all.  Such  is  the  state  of  things.  I 
think  matters  recoverable  in  some  degree ;  but  the 
attempt  is  to  be  made. 

If  Ireland  be  well  enough,  and  safe  enough,  as  it  is  ; 
if  the  Chancellor  and  the  Government  of  the  junto  is  good 
for  the  King,  the  country,  and  the  empire,  God  forbid  that 
a  stone  in  that  edifice  should  be  picked  out  to  gratify 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  or  anybody  else.  But  if  that  kingdom, 
by  the  meditated  and  systematic  corruption  (private, 
personal,  not  politic  corruption)  of  some,  and  the  head- 
long violence  and  tyrannical  spirit  of  others,  totally 
destitute  of  wisdom,  and  the  more  incurably  so,  as  not 
being  destitute  of  some  flashy  parts,  is  brought  into  a  very 
perilous  situation,  then  I  say,  at  a  time  like  this,  there  is 
no  making  questions  about  it  mere  discussions  between 
one  branch  and  the  other  of  administration,  either  in 
England  or  Ireland.  The  state  of  Ireland  is  not  like  a 
thing  without  intrinsic  merits,  and  on  which  it  may  be 


270  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

safe  to  make  a  trial  of  skill,  or  a  trial  of  strength.  It  is 
no  longer  an  obscure  dependency  of  this  kingdom.  What 
is  done  there  vitally  affects  the  whole  system  of  Europe, 
Whether  you  regard  it  offensively  or  defensively,  Ireland 
is  known  in  France.  Communications  have  been  opened, 
and  more  will  be  opened.  Ireland  will  be  a  strong  digue 
to  keep  out  Jacobinism,  or  a  broken  bank  to  let  it  in. 
The  junto  have  weathered  the  old  European  system  of 
government  there,  and  brought  it  into  utter  discredit.  I 
look  in  this  affair  to  Ireland,  and  in  Ireland  to  Great 
Britain,  and  in  Great  Britain  to  Europe.  The  little 
cliques  there  are  to  me  as  nothing.  They  have  never  done 
me  a  favour  nor  an  injury.  But  that  kingdom  is  of  great 
importance  indeed.  I  regard,  in  this  point,  all  de- 
scriptions of  men  with  great  comparative  indifference. 
I  love  Lord  FitzwilHam  very  well  ;  but  so  convinced  am 
I,  on  the  maturest  reflection,  of  the  perilous  state  into 
which  the  present  junto  have  brought  that  kingdom  (on 
which,  in  reahty,  this  kingdom,  at  this  juncture,  is  de- 
pendent), that  if  he  were  to  go  with  a  resolution  to  support 
it,  I  would,  on  my  knees,  entreat  him  not  to  have  a  share  in 
the  ruin  of  his  country  under  the  poor  pretence  of  govern- 
ing a  part  of  it.  Oh  !  my  dear  friend,  I  write  with  a  sick 
heart,  and  a  wearied  hand.  If  you  can,  pluck  Ireland  out 
of  the  unwise  and  corrupt  hands  that  are  destroying  us  ! 
If  they  say,  they  will  mend  their  manners,  I  tell  you,  they 
cannot  mend  them  ;  and  if  they  could,  this  mode  of  doing 
and  undoing,  saying  and  unsaying,  inflaming  the  people 
with  voluntary  violence,  and  appeasing  them  with  forced 
concession  ;  their  keeping  the  '  word  of  promise  to  their 
ear  and  breaking  it  to  their  hope  ; '  their  wanton  expenses, 
and  their  fraudulent  economy  ; — all  these,  and  ten  times 
more  than  these,  but  all  of  the  same  sort;  are  the  very 
things  which  have  brought  government  in  that  country 
to  the  state  of  contempt  and  incurable  distrust  under 
which  it  labours.  It  cannot  have  its  very  distemper  for 
its  cure.     You  know  me,  I  think,  enough  to  be  quite  sure; 


1794]  WEAKNESS  IS  RUIN  271 

that  in  giving  you  an  opinion  concerning  Mr.  Pitt's 
interest  and  honour,  I  have  not  an  obHque  regard,  at  his 
expense,  to  the  honour  and  interest  of  others.  No  !  I 
always  thought  advice  the  most  sacred  of  all  things,  and 
that  it  always  ought  to  be  given  for  the  benefit  of  the 
advised.  I  am  now  endeavouring  to  make  up  my  accounts 
with  my  Creator.  I  am,  almost  hterally,  a  dying  man.  I 
speak  with  all  the  freedom,  and  with  all  the  clearness  of 
that  situation.  I  speak  as  a  man  under  a  strong  sense  of 
obhgation  to  Mr.  Pitt,  when  I  assure  him,  under  the 
solemn  sanction  of  that  awful  situation,  that  my  firm 
opinion  is,  that  by  getting  rid  of  the  new  accessions  to 
his  strength,  and  especially  upon  the  ground  of  protection 
to  certain  Irish  politicians  (at  what  distance  of  time  I 
cannot  say),  he  is  preparing  his  certain  ruin,  with  all 
the  consequences  of  that  ruin,  which  I  tremble  to  think  on. 
God  bless  you  all,  and  direct  you  for  the  best.^ 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

Beaconsfield  :  October  16,  1794 
What  I  enclose  to  you  with  this  is  to  yourself  prin- 
cipally ;  but  if  you  enter  into  my  ideas,  it  is  ostensible 
to  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Dundas  ;  and,  if  you  will,  to  the 
Chancellor.  This  I  don't  desire,  because,  in  case  of  our 
agreement  the  arguments  will  come  with  far  more 
authority  from  yourself.  But  if  you  think  that  my 
opinions  would  tend  in  any  way  to  strengthen  yours,  you 
have  my  permission  to  show  them  to  any  of  the  three 
upon  whom  you  conceive  they  are  the  most  likely  to 
make  an  impression.  Mr.  Pitt  is  surprised  that  your 
friends  should  think  of  breaking  the  Ministry  at  such  a 
time  as  this  ;  sure  it  is  equally  surprising  that  he  should 
do  so  by  putting  them  out  of  their  offices,  for  it  is  plain 
they  cannot  stay  in  them  under  the  present  circumstances. 
It  is  he  who  is  chiefly  responsible  (almost,  indeed,  wholly 

1  Windham's  "  Diary,"  p.  321. 


272  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

so)  for  carrying  on  the  public  business  in  this  dreadful 
season.  It  is  his  system  and  his  power  that  are  to  be 
supported  ;  and  I  never  knew  a  minister  that  would  not 
do  a  thousand  things  to  gain,  and  to  keep,  men  convenient, 
at  least,  to  the  support  of  his  power  and  reputation, 
especially  when  the  greatest  interests  ever  staked  were 
depending.  When  he  will  do  no  one  earthly  thing  to 
keep  them,  they  must  think,  and  the  world  must  think, 
he  wants  to  get  rid  of  them.  I  wish  you  to  speak  fully  to 
Dundas  on  this  business.  I  conceive  all  others  ought  to 
be  postponed  to  it.  I  don't  know  what  part  he  has  in  the 
intrigue.  But  if  he  is  clear  of  that,  he  is  open  to  reason, 
and  is  not  without  influence.  You  mistook  me  about 
Grattan.  I  did  not  wish  Mr.  Pitt  to  reason  him  into  a 
dereliction  of  opposition  to  Lord  Westmoreland,  for  I 
well  knew  that  a  dread  of  that  opposition  would  be  a 
principal  inducement  to  Mr.  Pitt  to  be  reconciled  to  your 
friends  ;  I  wished  you  to  get  the  Duke  of  Portland  and 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  with  whom  he  was  in  confidence,  and 
to  whom  he  came  over  in  order  to  destroy  the  system  of 
the  junto,  and  to  pledge  himself  to  support  them  in 
opposition  to  it ;  to  consult  with  him  what  it  was  best  for 
that  purpose  to  do,  whether  to  resign  or  not,  or  what  other 
course  to  take.  I  should  have  made  a  great  scruple  of 
conscience  to  do  anything  whatever  for  the  support, 
directly  or  indirectly,  of  a  set  of  men  in  Ireland,  who, 
that  conscience  well  informed  tells  me,  by  their  innumer- 
able corruptions,  frauds,  oppressions,  and  follies,  are 
opening  a  back  door  for  Jacobinism,  to  rush  in  expenses, 
and  to  take  us  in  the  rear.  As  surely  as  you  and  I  exist, 
so  surely  this  will  be  the  consequence  of  their  persisting 
in  their  system.  As  to  yourself,  you  have  my  most  ardent 
prayers  that  God  would  direct  you,  through  your  reason, 
to  the  best  course.  I  am  glad  that  neither  the  Duke 
of  Portland,  nor  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  nor  you,  have  called 
on  me  for  my  opinions  on  your  conduct.  Whatever  you 
do  will  be  well  intended  and  well  advised.     You  will  then 


1794]      "  I  NOW  DESPAIR  COMPLETELY  "         273 

smile,  and  ask  me,  why  I  am  so  free  in  myjjadvice  co  Mr. 
Pitt  through  you,  who  has  asked  it  as  little  as  the  rest  ? 
Why,  because  the  whole  depends  on  him.  If  he  mistakes, 
so  as  to  let  this  Ministry  go  to  pieces,  we  shall,  along  with 
him,  be  all  undone.  The  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  is  an 
arrangement  subservient  to  the  reformation,  or  to  the 
continuance,  of  the  abuses  reigning  in  the  country,  and 
he  who  is  the  real  minister  can  alone  support  or  destroy 
them.  I  ought  to  have  sent  my  packet  earlier.  But  I 
have  been  oppressed  with  such  sinkings  and  dejection  of 
spirits,  that  in  adding,  after  the  coming  of  your  messenger, 
to  what  I  wrote  the  night  before,  I  have  been  obliged  to 
go  into  the  open  air  from  time  to  time,  to  refresh  myself, 
and  thus  the  time  went  away.  This  is  dreadful !  dread- 
ful !  beyond  the  loss  of  a  general  battle.  I  now  despair 
completely.  I  begin  to  think  that  God,  who  most  surely 
regards  the  least  of  His  creatures  as  well  as  the  greatest, 
took  what  was  dearest  to  me  to  Himself  in  a  good  time. 
Adieu  !  ^ 

William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 

October  16,  1794 

I  also  have  talked  to  Mr.  Gr[attan]  since  your  conversa- 
tion with  him,  and  with  an  opening  of  better  prospects.  A 
very  little  would  I  am  persuaded  content  them,  I  mean 
Mr.  Gr[attan]  and  his  friends,  if  the  matter  could  be  fairly 
brought  as  a  question  to  their  moderation.  What  might 
give  an  unfavourable  appearance  to  Mr.  Gr[attan]'s  con- 
versation, was  a  suspicion  in  his  mind  that  more  was  meant 
than  was  declared,  and  that  it  was  rather  ah  objection 
to  the  system  than  a  tenderness  about  particular  persons. 
I  am  persuaded  that  if  the  Chancellor  could  be  given  upj 
he  might  be  saved.  But  I  don't  know,  nor  should  I  think, 
that  there  could  be  a  secret  article  about  that ;  and  any 
understanding  upon  the  subject  would  be  a  matter  too 
delicate  and  dangerous. — If  you  cannot  make  up  your 

1  Windham's  "  Diary,"  p.  328. 
I  S 


274  THE  WINDHAM  Px\PERS  [1794 

mind  to  exposing  the  Ch[ancellor]  to  the  risk,  the  thing  is, 
I  fear,  desperate  :  and  with  it  I  should  also  fear  all  hope  of 
quiet  or  safety  in  Ireland.  An  acquiescence  of  persons 
in  the  situation  of  Gr[attan],  and  his  friend,  is  an  effort 
of  virtue  too  great  to  be  long  continued,  should  it  even  be 
attempted. 

I  ought  not  to  disguise  to  you  either  what  are  likely 
to  be  the  effects  here.  Great  or  small,  it  is  proper  they 
should  be  before  you.  Though  I  could  say  nothing 
positive  respecting  myself,  till  Lord  Spencer's  return,  yet 
it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  I  could  stay  on  the  grounds 
on  which  the  Duke  of  Portland  and  Lord  Spencer  are 
likely  to  go  out ;  nor  do  I  conceive  that  Lord  Spencer 
with  respect  to  himself  will  be  of  a  different  opinion. 

I  need  not  say,  I  am  persuaded,  how  much  I  deprecate 
on  the  publick  account  such  an  extremity  ;  and  I  assure 
you,  I  hardly  do  so  less  on  account  of  the  perfect  satis- 
faction which  I  have  found  in  the  conviction,  as  it  has 
hitherto  subsisted.^ 


William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 
Private  Downing  Street :  October  16,  1794 

The  more  I  consider  every  part  of  this  unfortunate 
Subject,  the  more  I  am  confirmed  in  the  impossibility 
either  of  consenting  to  the  Chancellor's  Removal,  or  of 
leaving  either  him  or  any  of  the  Supporters  of  Govern- 
ment exposed  to  the  Risk  of  the  new  System.  What  you 
say  with  respect  to  yourself  embitters  the  Regret,  which, 
even  without  it,  I  should  feel  at  the  probable  consequences 
of  what  has  passed.  My  Consolation  under  all  the  Diffi- 
culties will  be  that  I  have  nothing  to  reproach  myself 
with,  in  what  has  led  to  this  misunderstanding  ;  and 
I  must  struggle  as  well  as  I  can  with  a  distress  which  no 
means  are  left  me  to  avoid,  without  a  sacrifice  both  of 
Character  and  Duty. 

»  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  78. 


1794]  THOUGHTS  OF  RETIREMENT  275 

Allow  me  only  to  add,  that  before  you  finally  decide 
on  your  own  line  of  conduct,  I  trust  you  will  give  me  an 
opportunity  of  discussing  with  you  without  reserve,  the 
great  Public  Considerations,  which  at  this  moment  are 
involved  in  it.-^ 


William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 

Downing  Street :  October  16,  1794 

Strongly  as  I  have  stated  to  you  my  Feelings  in  my 
last  letter,  I  fear  on  looking  at  your  Letter  again,  that  I 
have  stated  them  in  one  respect  imperfectly. 

Besides  the  Impossibility  of  sacrificing  any  Supporters 
of  Government,  or  exposing  them  to  the  Risk  of  a  new 
System,  I  ought  to  add  that  the  very  Idea  of  a  new 
System  (as  far  as  I  understand  what  is  meant  by  that 
Term)  and  especially  one  formed  without  previous  Com- 
munication or  Concert  with  the  rest  of  the  King's  Servants 
here,  or  with  the  Friends  of  Government  in  Ireland,  is  in 
itself  what  I  feel  it  utterly  impossible  to  accede  to  ;  and 
it  appears  to  me  to  be  directly  contrary  to  the  General 
Principles  on  which  our  Junction  was  formed  and  has 
hitherto  subsisted.  Painful  as  the  whole  Subject  is,  I 
feel  nevertheless  that  [it]  is  material  to  leave  no  Part  of 
it  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  and  I,  therefore,  give  you 
this  additional  Trouble. ^ 

The  Duke  of  Portland  to  William  Windham 

October  18,  1794 
You  need  not  be  under  any  apprehension  upon  the 
subject  of  concessions — but,  notwithstanding,  I  shall  be 
much  disappointed  if  I  don't  see  you  to-morrow  morning 
and  I  wish  you  could  come  soon  after  ten.  Grattan  is 
to  be  here  at  12  and  he  is  always  punctual. — I  find  from 
Dr.    Laurence  ^   that  Burke   has  been   all  this  morning 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  80.  2  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  82. 

3  French  Laurence  (1757-1809),  the  friend  and  executor  of  Burke. 


276  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

writing  to  the  Chancellor  and  Laurence  also  tells  me  that 
Burke  has  been  more  agitated  and  that  his  spirits  have 
been  more  affected  and  harried  within  these  two  last  days 
than  for  some  weeks  past,  and  Laurence  supposes  that  it 
is  to  be  entirely  attributed  to  paragraphs  which  have 
appeared  in  the  papers  respecting  the  Government  of 
Ireland.-^ 


Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

Beaconsfield  :  October  20,  1794 
I  had  your  letter.  Everything  is  undone,  if  the  matter 
is  put  upon  private  and  personal  ground.  If  it  be  a  ques- 
tion of  men  and  of  favour,  it  is  quite  clear  what  men  and 
what  favour  must  prevail ;  and,  as  to  the  public  opinion,  it 
will  be  clamorously  against  those  who  come  in  and  go  out 
lightly  in  the  most  critical  seasons.  I  have  thought  this 
matter  over  and  over.  I  have  looked  back  at  our  former 
experience  :  and  I  have  considered  the  genius  of  the  new 
times.  I  have  considered  the  character  of  the  men  you 
are  come  to  act  with,  and  your  own  character  ;  as  well  as 
the  character  of  the  Opposition  and  the  bystanders.  I 
have  compared  all  these  with  the  situation  of  England, 
and  of  Poland,  and  of  Europe.  I  never  gave  anything  in 
my  life  so  thorough  a  sifting.  The  result  is,  that  I  am 
clearly  and  decidedly  of  opinion  that  [neither]  the  Duke 
of  Portland,  nor  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  nor  yourself,  ought  to 
resign  ;  but  to  wait — for  what  I  foresee  will  be  the  case  of 
some  of  you — to  be  turned  out.  You  are  in  a  post  of 
strength,  if  you  know  how  to  defend  yourselves.  Whereas 
nothing  but  obloquy,  unpopularity,  disfavours  above  and 
below,  and  complete  impotence,  will  follow  you,  if  you  are 
once  out ;  and  never  can  you  come  in  again  but  on  the  ruins 
of  your  country.  But  when  I  say  the  resignations  ought 
not  now  to  be  thought  of,  I  do  not  say  that  the  matters 
for  which  you  contend  ought  to  be  abandoned  ;   but  the 

1  Add.  MSS.  37845  f.  59 


1794]  BURKE  ON  THE  SITUATION  277 

very  reverse.     You  are  where  you  are,  only  to  act  with 
rectitude,  firmness,  and  disinterestedness,  and  particu- 
larly to  resist,  ad  internecionem,  the  corrupt  system  of 
Ireland,  which  goes  directly  to  the  ruin  of  the  whole 
empire.     I  seemed  to  think,  in  my  last  letter,  of  the 
resignation  of  the  Duke  of  Portland  and  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
as  inevitable.     That  letter  was  the  result  of  my  second 
thought.     You  know  that  in  my  first,  to  which  I  am  now 
come  back,  I  stated  this  position  to  you  as  a  thing  between 
the  two  alternatives.     In  substance,  perhaps,  my  opinions 
are  the  same  :   go  out  they  must.     I  believe  it  is  a  thing 
that  does  not  depend  on  them  to  avoid — the  question  is 
on  the  manner  of  it.     Clearly,  the  most  reputable  thing 
in  every  point  of  view  is,  that  they  should  not  commit 
suicide  ;  but  be  slain  on  their  post  in  a  battle  against  this 
Irish  corruption,  which  is  another  thing  than  the  mis- 
application of  so  much  money.     If,  indeed,  my  opinion 
was   wholly   changed   on   reflection,   why   should    I   be 
ashamed  of  it  in  one  of  the  most  difficult  questions  that 
ever  was  ?     Whatever  is  done,  I  am  against  all  squab 
proceedings,  such  as  seem  rather  the  effect  of  temper 
than  principle.     They  are  very  ill-used — very  ill  indeed  ; 
but  their  own  conduct  has  been  such  that  they  have  put 
themselves  in  the  wrong  ;   and  it  is  not  by  base  jdelding; 
or  by  a  stubborn  perverseness,  they  can  get  right,  but  by 
producing  such  a  body  of  principle  as  reaUy  actuates  them; 
and  which  will  make  their  mode  of  proceeding,  however 
irregular,  a  thing  of  very  subordinate  importance.     The 
closet  must  be  resorted  to,  with  all  sort  of  gentleness  and 
attention  ;    the  matter  stated,  the  substance  given  in, 
in  writing  ;    opinion   and   direction  rather  asked  than 
resolution  declared  on  their  part  ;    lamentation  rather 
than  blame.     Honour  and  principle  are  never  the  worse 
for  being  conducted  with  address.     Two  things — not  to 
resign,  not  to  abandon  the  ground  of  dispute.     With  good 
conduct  the  whole  may  yet  be  gained — points,  office,  all. 
But  then,  the  temper  to  be  used,  in  my  mind,  ought  not 


278  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1794 

to  extend  to  the  Irish  job  system.  You  can  only  defend 
yourselves  by  open,  avowed  unappeasable  war,  against 
that,  as  long  as  no  temperaments  of  any  kind  are  held  out ; 
when  they  are,  their  value  will  be  considered.  I  shall 
write,  I  think,  a  note  to  this  purpose  to  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
and  the  Duke  of  Portland,  I  wrote,  last  night,  a  threnodia 
to  the  Chancellor  ;  but  I  did  not  enter  into  any  particular 
whatever  :  it  would  have  been  quite  useless.  He  is  a  very 
able,  good-humoured,  friendly  man  ;  and  for  himself, 
truly,  no  great  jobber,  but  where  a  job  of  patronage 
occurs,  '  quanquam  ipsa  in  niorte  tenefur.'  For  in  the 
article  of  death,  he  would  cry,  '  Bring  the  job  !  '  Good 
God  !  to  think  of  jobs  in  such  a  moment  as  this  !  Why, 
it  is  not  vice  any  longer  :  it  is  corruption  run  mad.  Thank 
you  for  the  account  of  the  few  saved  at  Bois-le-Duc — 
Pichegru  ^  has  more  humanity  than  we  have.  Why  are 
any  of  these  people  put  into  garrison  places  ?  It  is  pre- 
meditated and  treacherous  murder.  If  an  emigrant 
governor  was,  indeed,  appointed,  a  better  thing  could 
not  be  done.  Then  we  should  hear  of  a  defence :  it  would, 
indeed,  be  a  novelty ;  and  one  would  think,  for  that  reason; 
would  be  recommended.  But  cowardice  and  treachery 
seem  qualifications  ;  and  punishment  is  amongst  the 
artes  perditcB  in  the  old  governments.  I  am  very  miserable 
— tossed  by  public  upon  private  griefs,  and  by  private 
upon  public.  Oh  !  have  pity  on  yourselves  !  and  may 
the  God,  whose  counsels  are  so  mysterious  in  the  moral 
world  (even  more  than  in  the  natural) ,  guide  you  through 
all  these  labyrinths.  Do  not  despair  !  if  you  do  work  in 
despair.  Feel  as  little  and  think  as  much  as  you  can  ; 
correct  your  natural  constitutions,  but  don't  attempt  to 
force  them.     Adieu,  adieu  !  - 

*  Charles  Pichegru  (1761-1804),  French  general  ;  conquered  Holland, 
1794-95  ;  entered  into  negotiation  with  the  Royalists  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Bourbons  ;  found  guilty  of  conspiracy,  and  sentenced  to 
transportation,  escaped  to  England  ;  returning  to  France  in  1804,  was 
cast  into  prison,  where  on  April  6  he  was  found  strangled. 

^  Windham's  "  Diary,"  p.  330. 


1794]  A  MEDIATOR  WANTED  279 

Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

October  28,  1794 
I  am  in  a  state  of  mind  as  near  complete  despair  as  a 
man  can  be  in  ;  yet  whilst  there  remains  the  faintest 
possibility  of  doing  good,  I  think  you  whose  duty  it  is 
to  act,  and  who  have  vigour  of  body  and  mind  sufficient 
to  that  duty,  ought  to  omit  no  rational  means  of  removing 
the  evil  which  presses  the  most  nearly,  and  is  the  most 
within  your  reach.  A  mediator  is  wanted  in  this  business. 
I  doubt  whether  you  are  exactly  in  that  situation.  I 
think  the  Chancellor  is.  I  feared  he  might  be  too  much 
influenced  by  the  jobbery  of  his  Irish  connections,  particu- 
larly that  of  Douglas.  But  I  rather  think  I  wronged  him. 
I  have  heard  from  him,  and  by  the  strain  he  writes  in,  I 
am  sure  he  wishes  this  rupture  to  be  made  up  in  some 
proper  way,  as  you  and  I  do.  Now  I  apprehend  he  may 
be  a  little  crippled  in  this  business  of  a  useful  go-between, 
if  there  be  not  some  confidence  shown  to  him  by  our 
friends.  I  just  throw  out  this  hint,  not  being  able  to  say 
much  more  than  what  I  have  already  troubled  you  with 
at  great  length.  How  comes  it  that  I  have  heard  nothing 
of  Dundas  in  this  business,  no  more  than  if  no  such  thing 
existed  ?  and  yet  he  must  certainly  tell  for  a  great  deal 
in  it.  I  know  this  affair  can  never  come  to  any  sort  of 
amicable  conclusion  whilst  they  treat  the  matter  in  dispute 
exactly  in  the  spirit  and  upon  the  principles  of  ministers  of 
adverse  courts  (and  very  adverse  courts  too),  debating 
on  a  matter  in  negotiation  and  not  as  members  of  the 
same  Cabinet  Council  and  servants  of  the  same  King. 
The  order  of  the  questions  and  all  this  fencing,  tends  to 
keep  alive  the  hostility.  There  is  something  of  the  worst 
tendency  imaginable  in  the  whole  mode  of  their  carrying 
on  business.     God  bless  you  !  ^ 

^  Windham's  "  Diary,"  p.  2,2,i- 


CHAPTER  II 
1795 

Windham's  belief  that  a  RoyaHst  force  should  be  organised 
against  the  Republicans  :  The  negotiations  entrusted  to  him 
by  the  Cabinet  :  Quiberon  Bay  expedition  :  Correspondence 
with  Lord  Grenville  :  The  Duke  of  York  gazetted  Field -Marshal: 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  as  Lord -Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  acts  in 
defiance  of  his  instructions  :  He  is  recalled  by  the  Ministry  : 
And  is  succeeded  by  Lord  Camden  :  The  state  of  Corsica  : 
Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  appointed  Governor  :  Paoli  :  Lord  Hood  :  Sir 
Hyde  Parker  :  Joseph  Gerrald  :  Dr.  Parr's  plea  for  him  :  The 
Prince  of  Wales's  debts  :  Burke  suggests  a  remedy  for  the 
future  :  England  and  the  French  Royalists  :  The  Treasonable 
Practices  Bill  :  Correspondence  with  Malone,  Mrs.  Crewe, 
Lord  Grenville,  and  others. 

WINDHAM  held  the  view  that  if  the  Royahsts 
in  the  west  of  France  were  assisted  with 
money  and  munitions  by  the  British 
Government  they  could  raise  a  force  that 
might  be  used  effectively  against  the  Republican  arm3^ 
The  management  of  these  difficult  negotiations  was  en- 
trusted to  him  by  the  Cabinet,  and  his  enormous  corre- 
spondence on  this  matter,  including  letters  from  the  Royal- 
ist chiefs,  Puisaye,^  Georges  Cadoudal,^  and  Tinteniac, 
provides  material  for  a  history  of  the  war  in  Brittany 
and  La  Vendee.  Windham  was  the  person  most  responsible 
for  the  disastrous  Quiberon  Bay  expedition  in  July  1795, 

^  Count  Joseph  Puisaye  (i754?-i827),  French  Royalist  general,  took 
an  active  part  in  the  insurrection  of  La  Vendee  and  in  the  Quiberon 
Bay  expedition. 

'  Georges  Cadoudal  (1769-1804),  Chouan  chief.  The  Vendean 
Royalists  were  named  Chouans,  a  corruption  of  chat-huant,  screech  owl, 
whose  cry  was  used  as  a  signal  cry  of  a  band  of  smugglers, 

280 


1795]  RAISING  A  ROYALIST  FORCE  281 

though,  in  fairness  to  him,  it  must  be  said  that  the  failure 
was  attributable  not  to  the  design,  but  to  the  execution; 
with  which,  of  course,  he  was  not  directly  concerned. 

William  Windham  to  Lord  Grenville 

London  :   January  i,  1795 

The  time  for  preparation  is  slipping  away  very  fast ; 
and  after  some  examples  that  we  have  seen,  we  have  no 
reason  to  hope  that  the  opportunities  of  repairing  what 
may  now  be  lost  will  be  numerous  or  long  continued. 
If  we  wait  for  the  conclusion  of  these  necessarily  tedious 
negotiations  with  the  Court  of  Vienna,  on  a  subject,  too, 
where  they  are  not  pressed  to  decision  by  any  very  strong 
wish  or  necessity,  we  shall  lose  the  season  for  raising  any 
considerable  force  under  the  Prince  of  Conde  ^  on  that  side 
of  France. 

My  idea  is  that  we  should  directly  send  a  M.  D'Artez, 
who  is  here  and  has  been  long  marked  out  for  the  station 
we  are  speaking  of  both  by  the  Due  D'Harcourt  and  others, 
with  a  commission  to  the  Prince  de  Conde  empowering 
him  immediately  to  raise  a  regiment,  naming  the  olhcers 
himself,  and  giving  to  M.  D'Artez,  who  is  already  known  to 
him,  such  commission  as  he  may  think  fit  and  as  his  former 
rank  in  the  army  may  entitle  him  to.  I  would  then  send 
M.  Lambertye,  whom  his  Majesty  has  been  graciously 
pleased  to  favour  us  with,  to  concert  with  Wyndham  at 
Florence  about  raising  a  regiment  in  those  parts  ;  and  if 
any  place  besides  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Sardinia 
can  be  found  as  a  depot  for  that  regiment,  would  send  the 
Marquis  de  Miran  to  Turin  to  open  there  a  rendezvous 
for  all  the  well  affected  who  either  are  already  out  of  the 

1  Louis  Henri  Joseph  de  Bourbon,  Due  de  Bourbon  and  Prince  de 
Conde  (17 56-1 830),  the  son  of  Louis  Joseph  (died  181 8).  He  married, 
April  1770,  Marie  Therese  d'Orleans,  and  was  the  father  of  the 
ill-fated  Due  d'Enghien.  The  Duke  left  France  in  1789,  and  eleven 
years  later  accompanied  his  father  to  England,  where  they  resided 
at  Wanstead  House. 


282  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

country,  or  may  be  drawn  from  the  provinces  in  that 
neighbom'hood.  There  is  every  reason  to  hasten  these 
measures,  not  only  because  the  time  now  remaining  to 
us  is  barely  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  but  because  the 
effects  of  the  present  milder  system  will  be  to  call  back 
many  into  France  who  might  be  well  contented  still  to 
remain  out  if  they  were  furnished  with  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. My  reason  for  proposing  the  Marquis  de  Miran 
is  that  he  commanded  in  Provence  for  15  years  ending 
with  the  Revolution,  and  gave,  in  the  last  crisis,  the  most 
distinguished  proofs  of  zeal  and  good  conduct.  This 
consideration  is  sufficient  for  giving  him  a  preference  over 
others  that  may  have  been  on  the  Due  D'Harcourt's  list, 
and  for  departing  from  a  rule  hitherto  not  uniformly 
observed,  and  certainly  not  necesssary  to  be  observed, 
of  excluding  from  the  command  of  regiments  all  above 
the  rank  of  Marechal  de  Camp.  If  there  should  be  any 
objection  to  giving  the  corps  to  M.  de  Miran,  he  might  be 
stationed  at  Turin  as  Lieutenant  General  to  superintend 
the  formation  of  M.  Lambertye's  corps,  and  any  other 
corps  that  it  might  be  found  practicable  and  expedient 
to  raise  there.  M.  Lambertye,  too,  who  makes  more 
difficulties  than  he  ought  to  do  considering  his  good 
fortune  in  getting  a  corps  at  all,  may  be  sent  with  letters 
to  the  Prince  de  Conde,  desiring  the  Prince  either  to  keep 
M.  Lambertye  with  him,  and  to  send  an  officer  of  his  own 
into  Italy,  or  to  let  M.  Lambertye  go  on  as  proposed,  and 
keep  his  own  officer  for  the  quarter  nearest  him.  Some 
measures  of  this  sort  are  absolutely  and  immediately 
necessary.  For  besides  that  we  must  have  the  force, 
Italy  is  in  the  most  immediate  danger,  being  so  com- 
pletely defenceless  that  there  is  nothing,  I  apprehend,  to 
prevent  the  merest  handful  of  French  that  should  once 
pass  the  frontier  from  marching  to  the  further  extremity. 
The  emigrant  French,  now  dispersed  in  Italy,  are  in  per- 
fect despair  on  that  account,  and  are  driven  by  that 
despair  to  join  in  a  wish  which  nothing  else  could  dictate, 


1795]  THE  POPE  283 

namely,  a  wish  for  peace.  At  the  same  time  that 
country  may  certainly,  under  proper  management;  be 
made  to  yield  great  means,  not  only  for  its  own  defence, 
but  for  that  which  may  be  very  necessary  for  general 
success,  offensive  operations  on  that  side  of  France.  The 
first  step  is  to  begin  raising  there  some  force  in  our  pay, 
and  I  know  of  no  better  way  of  doing  so  than  those  which 
I  have  pointed  out.  I  reflect  with  great  regret,  and  some 
shame,  that  steps  for  this  purpose  have  not  been  taken 
sooner.  One  idea  by  the  way  occurs  to  me  at  this  moment 
not  unworthy  of  being  considered,  namely  the  landing 
there  the  Due  de  Fitzjames,^  with  his  officers,  and 
possibly  even  another  of  the  Franco-Irish  regiments  who 
have,  I  fear,  but  little  prospect  of  speedy  success  in 
Ireland,  and  who  would  not  find  the  same  ill-dispositions 
towards  them  that  may  be  apprehended  in  some  parts  of 
Italy  against  the  emigrants.  No  objection  would  prob- 
ably be  made  to  them  in  the  Pope's  States  ;  and  we 
need  have  no  jealousy  of  them,  any  more  than  the 
Corsicans  would  have  if  employed,  where  they  will  be 
sufficiently  wanted,  for  the  defence  of  Corsica. 

This  is  connected  with  the  question  of  more  direct 
communication  with  the  Pope,  which  I  cannot  but  wish  to 
see  effected,  and  speedily  though  possibly  not  through  the 
medium  of  the  person  who  has  so  earnestly  recommended 
it.  Why  should  not  Frederick  North  in  his  way  to 
Corsica  be  directed  to  pass  through  Rome,  with  some 
letters  of  civility  to  the  Pope  ?  It  will  be  a  good  opening 
of  communication,  and  connected  with  the  idea  of  it 
which  you  entertain. 

At  all  events  I  would  send  two  of  the  Irish  Colonels 
to  fill  up  their  regiments  with  French,  Italians,  and 
Corsicans,  instead  of  attempting  only  to  fill  them  up,  as 
I  fear  will  be  the  case,  with  Irish,  whom  they  cannot  get 
either  without  encroaching*upon  the  success  of  other  corps. 

Postcript. — I  wish  you  could  concert  with  Mr.  Pitt  a 
^  Edouard,  fourth  Due  de  Fitz- James  (i 776-1 839). 


284  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

short  letter  to  be  sent  to  the  coaHtion  in  Normandy 
by  a  person  whom  I  have  here  ready  to  go,  and  who  waits 
only  for  these  credentials.  A  general  assurance  vouching 
for  the  person,  and  quieting  them  as  to  any  views  of 
conquest,  is  all  that  is  wanted.-^ 


William  Windham  to  Lord  Grenville 

Hill  Street :     February  13;   1795 

I  send  you  a  letter  of  M.  D'Artez  containing  a  proposal 
of  his  which,  upon  discoursing  it  over  with  him,  I  cannot 
but  think  deserving  of  some  attention.  He  means  it  only 
as  an  experiment,  the  continuance  of  which,  if  successful, 
should  be  left  to  the  Austrians.  If  would  certainly  be 
their  business  to  begin  it,  but  if  they  will  not  begin  it,  as 
is  probably  the  case,  is  it  not  better  that  it  should  be 
begun  by  us  ?  M.  D'Artez  is  of  opinion  (and  his  opinions 
seem  so  temperate  and  well  formed  that  I  feel  a  great 
disposition  always  to  agree  with  them)  that  in  the  present 
state  of  thinking  in  France,  a  large  defection  in  their 
armies  might  be  effected  by  the  use  of  the  means  which 
he  proposes.  At  all  events  the  cost  could  be  but  incon- 
siderable ;  and  as  soon  as  any  considerable  body  should 
be  raised  as  much  as  might  amount  to  a  regiment,  it  might 
be  transferred  to  the  anny  of  the  Prince  de  Conde. 

Upon  the  subject  of  this  army  I  feel  great  uneasiness. 
I  have  no  idea  that  the  Austrians,  if  left  to  themselves, 
will  ever  put  that  army  in  a  state,  or  employ  it  in  a 
manner,  to  make  it  produce  its  proper  effect.  Would  it 
be  impossible,  though  now  it  is  rather  too  late,  to  make 
some  stipulation  in  its  favour,  so  as  to  require  that,  as 
part  of  the  Austrian  contribution  of  force,  the  Prince  of 
Conde's  army  should  be  put  on  a  proper  footing,  and  be 
kept  up  to  a  certain  amount.  The  proper  footing  will  be; 
besides  that  of  regular  pay  and  clothing,  the  changing 

^  Fortescue^MSS.  iii.  I. 


1795]  -  D'ARTEZ'S  PLAN  285 

that  shocking  and  prodigal  system  of  using  officers  as 
common  soldiers,  and  stopping  the  dreadful  consump- 
tion which  that  system  has  made,  and  continues  to  make; 
of  the  flower  of  French  nobility.  This  would  be  done 
by  enlarging  that  army  to  its  proper  dimensions,  and  filling 
up  the  vacant  spaces  by  those  whom  there  may  be  hopes 
of  drawing  from  the  enemy's  army  and  from  the  interior. 
To  part  of  this  purpose,  indeed,  the  Chevalier  D'Artez's 
present  plan  is  in  some  degree  adverse  ;  inasmuch  as  by 
giving  commissions  to  officers  from  the  other  side,  he 
lessens  the  number  that  would  remain  for  those  now 
serving.  The  only  question  is  whether  you  do  not  gain 
by  the  increase  of  the  army,  and  consequent  increase  of 
commissions,  more  than  you  lose  in  that  view  in  the 
increase  of  the  number  of  persons  to  be  provided  for. 
There  are,  I  confess,  great  difficulties.  It  would  be  a 
heart-breaking  thing  to  see  a  Republican  officer,  newly 
come  over,  conformed  in  his  commission,  while  hundreds  of 
the  old  chevaliers  were  still  serving  as  common  soldiers,  and 
liable  to  be  commanded  by  him.  It  must  be  left  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Prince  of  Conde  ;  but,  if  he  thinks  the 
experiment  may  be  made,  I  should  be  inclined  to  be  at  the 
expense  of  beginning  it.  The  fatal  adherence  of  Austria 
to  her  views  of  acquisition,  which  has  hitherto  ruined 
everything,  and  will  but  too  probably  do  so  in  the  end,  it 
is  in  vain  to  say  anything  to.  I  suppose  it  is  impossible 
to  do  anything  even  to  mitigate  that  system.  Our 
mouths  are  unfortunately  stopped  by  our  own  pro- 
ceedings in  the  West  and  East  Indies.  Is  it  impossible; 
however,  to  make  them  lay  them  aside  for  the  time,  and 
feel  that  even  the  purpose  of  acquisition  will  be  better 
attained  by  not  being  pursued  directly  ?  ^ 

1  Fortescue  MSS.  iii.  18/9. 


286  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

George  HI.  to  William  Windham 

Queen's  House  :  February  10,  1795 

Mr.  Windham  is  to  notify  my  Son  the  Duke  of  York^ 
as  Field  Marshal  and  insert  it  in  this  night's  Gazette  besides 
sending  the  usual  Notification  to  the  Secretary  of  State's 
Office. 

At  the  Same  time  he  is  to  have  a  letter  of  Ser- 
vice placing  him  on  the  Home  Staff,  which  will  give 
him  naturally  the  command,  which  has  till  now  been 
entrusted  to  Lord  Amherst."^ 

I  suppose  Lord  Amherst's  Situation  ceasing,  it  will  be 
proper  that  [it]  should  be  notified  to  him  by  Mr.  Windham, 
who,  I  am  persuaded,  will  express  it  in  terms  of  my 
approbation  of  his  Services,  both  when  commanding  in 
North  America  and  since  I  have  called  him  into 
Succession  to  the  head  of  the  British  Staff. 

George  R.^ 

The  trouble  that  had  preceded  Fitz William's  appoint- 
ment as  Lord-Lieutenant  continued  after  he  had  arrived 
at  Dublin  on  January  4,  1795.  The  whole  business 
indeed,  was  a  tangle  of  misunderstandings  that  has  not 
yet  been  satisfactorily  unravelled.  On  January  7  the 
new  Viceroy,  careless  of  Pitt's  expressed  wishes,  dis- 
missed John  Beresford,  Commissioner  of  the  Customs, 
Edward  Cooke,  the  Military  Secretary,  Wolfe,  the  Attorney- 
General,  and  Toler,  the  Solicitor-General.  Beresford, 
without  delay,  appealed  to  the  Cabinet,  which  not  only 
ordered  his  reinstatement,  but  declined  to  confirm  the 

^  The  Duke  of  York  had  returned  to  England  in  the  previous 
December. 

*  Jeffery  Amherst  {1717-1797),  created  Baron  Amherst  1776. 
Commander-in-Chief  1778  ;  resigned  in  favour  of  the  Duke  of  York, 
1795  ;   Field -Marshal  1796. 

3  Add  MSS.  37842  f.  3. 


1795]        LORD  FITZWILLIAM  IN  IRELAND       287 

dismissal  of  Wolfe  and  Toler.  Fitzwilliam,  for  his  part, 
informed  the  Cabinet  that  the  Catholic  question  must 
be  dealt  with  at  once.  After  some  correspondence  the 
Cabinet  took  the  only  course  open  to  it  :  on  February  23 
it  recalled  Fitzwilliam.  He  left  Ireland  on  March  25, 
and  it  is  recorded  that,  "  The  day  of  his  departure 
was  one  of  general  gloom  ;  the  shops  were  shut ;  no 
business  of  any  kind  was  transacted  ;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  citizens  put  on  mourning,  while  some  of  the 
most  respectable  among  them  drew  his  coach  down  to 
the  waterside."  ^  Fitzwilliam  was  succeeded  by  Lord 
Camden. 2 

Earl  Fitzwilliam  to  William  Windham 

Dublin  Castle  :    March  i,  1795 

I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter  of  the  29th 
ult  :  expressing  your  wish  for  Mr.  Grattan's  presence  in 
England,  but  not  specifying  that  of  any  other  member  of 
that  cabinet,  which  has  unanimously  reprobated  generally 
the  measures  of  my  administration,  and  on  that  account 
has  recaU'd  me.  I  have  not  recommended  to  Mr.  Grattan  to 
take  the  journey,  but  to  wait  till  it  is  made  the  unanimous 
request  of  that  cabinet  that  he  should  do  so.^ 

William  Windham  to  Lord  Fitzwilliam 

March  5,  1795 

I  have  received  your  Excellency's  letter  of  the  ist  inst, 
and  am  sorry  to  find,  that  by  an  act  of  zeal,  hasty  perhaps, 
and  injudicious,  but  certainly  well-intended,  I  have  ex- 
posed myself  to  a  reception,  which  acts  of  that  sort  are 
apt  at  times  to  meet  with. 

1  stanhope,  "  Life  of  Pitt,"  ii.  236. 

*  John  Jeffreys  Pratt,  second  Earl  of  Camden  (17  59-1 840),  created 
Marquis  of  Camden,  1812. 
»  Add.  MSS.  37875  f.  I. 


288  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

With  respect  to  disapprobation  of  measures,  I  know 
of  none,  to  which  your  Excellency  can  allude,  except  an 
opinion,  which  I  cannot  but  distinctly  avow,  that  a  great 
part  of  your  Excellency's  measures  have  been  in  direct 
opposition  to  what  I  had  understood  to  have  been  agreed 
upon,  either  directly  or  by  implication,  in  the  conversation 
which  took  place  in  Downing  Street,  a  little  previous  to 
your  Excellency's  departure  ;  I  mean  particularly  in 
the  appointment  of  Mr.  W.  Ponsonby,  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  G.  Ponsonby,  the  removal  of  Mr.  Beresford,  and  in 
the  bringing  forward  the  Catholick  question,  so  far  as  your 
Excellency  approved  of,  or  was  concerned  in  that  measure, 
before  a  communication  could  be  had  with  this  country. 

If  in  this  opinion  I  have  the  misfortune  to  differ  with 
your  Excellency,  I  have  the  consolation,  I  believe,  of 
agreeing  with  every  other  person,  who  was  present  at  that 
conversation.^ 


Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  ^  to  William  Windham 

Private  Bastia  :   April  2,  1795 

I  cannot  easily  tell  you  how  much  pleasure  your  letter 
gave  me,  I  mean  a  letter  from  you.  Your  past  silence 
was  a  great  loss  to  me,  but  no  wrong.  Damnum  sine 
injuria.  I  hope  that  by  official  occasions,  if  not  by  other 
means,  we  may  have  a  chance  for  some  little  correspon- 
dence and  communication  with  each  other,  and  to  avoid 
the  greater  task  of  a  dispatch,  that  you  may  think  a 
private  letter  a  relief,  which  you  before  thought  a  labour. 
I  am  grateful  for  the  exertions  you  have  made   in   our 

1  Add.  MSS.  37875  f.  5. 

*  England  having  assumed  the  protectorate  of  Corsica  in  June  1794, 
Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  was  appointed  Governor.  He  made  Pozzo  di  Borgo 
President  of  the  Council  of  State,  whereupon  Paoli,  who  had  aspired 
to  that  position,  began  to  intrigue  for  the  expulsion  of  the  British,  but 
wsa  himself  exiled  by  Elliot.  Corsica  was  evacuated  by  the  British 
in  October  1796 


1795]    RECRUITING  IN  ITALY  AND  SPAIN        289 

favour  by  the  three  Foreign  Corps  for  which  you  have 
agreed.  It  is  a  proof  that  we  are  not  indifferent  to  you, 
and  that  you  have  a  just  sense  of  the  urgency  of  our 
situation.  You  will  believe,  of  course,  that  I  should  have 
preferr'd  British  troops  and  for  one  reason  that  would 
be  a  good  one  if  there  was  none  other,  I  mean  that  if  you 
had  taken  measures  to  give  us  those,  we  should  have  been 
sure  of  having  them  ;  but  the  realization  of  the  Foreign 
Corps  does  not  appear  so  certain.  It  is  become  of  late 
much  more  difficult  to  get  French  soldiers.  I  have  the 
officers  of  six  companies  now  recruiting  in  Italy  and  Spain, 
but  I  am  not  sanguine  in  my  expectations.  I  believe 
Spain  to  be  the  best  ground,  for  the  French  have  been 
very  miserable  there.  I  aUow  £3  los.  per  man  levy  money, 
of  which  los.  to  the  captain  for  expense  of  enlisting, 
traveling,  and  risk  by  Desertion — and  £3  to  the  recruit 
including  the  necessaries  which  he  is  to  be  furnished  with, 
so  that  the  recruit  cannot  touch  above  30s.  I  am  to 
cloath  and  arm  them.  Your  terms  to  Dillon  and  Dr. 
Corn  are  much  higher,  altho'  the  Colonels  are  charged 
with  the  cloathing  and  arming,  so  that  my  Refugee  re- 
cruiters will  have  no  chance  if  Dillon  arrives  in  their  heat 
before  they  have  done  their  business.  I  shall  be  glad, 
however,  to  have  them  either  way,  if  not  both. 

You  can  hardly  conceive  what  a  crowding  back  to 
France  there  has  been  for  many  weeks  past,  and  it  has 
by  no  means  abated.  In  the  last  month  the  expense  of 
the  Toulonese  Refugees  in  Corsica  has  diminished  exactly 
one  half  compared  with  the  month  preceding,  and  a  great 
diminution,  tho'  not  so  great,  has  taken  place  in  all  our 
other  Toulonese  Colonies.  The  alarms  to  which  Corsica  has 
been  subject,  and  the  extreme  timidity  of  this  class  of 
Frenchman  has  operated  very  powerfully  in  driving  them 
hence.  The  day  on  which  the  French  fleet  appear 'd  off 
Cape  Corse,  I  sign'd  about  300  passports  for  Toulonese 
only.  Not  one  of  them  came  to  ask  for  a  musquet,  not 
one  out  of  near  a  thousand.    Admiral  Hotham's  action 


290  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

on  the  14th  March, ^  together  with  the  arrival  of  the  Blen- 
heim of  80  guns,  and  Bombay  Castle  of  74  from  England, 
has  made  a  favourable  change  in  our  affairs.  The  ad- 
vantage on  the  whole  is  not  so  great,  however,  as  was  at 
first  imagined,  for  we  have  lost  the  Illustrious,  a  fine  74 
gun  ship.  She  was  dismasted  in  the  action  and  after- 
wards driven  on  shore  near  Gulf  of  Spezzia.  Everything 
was  done  to  get  her  off,  but  without  success  and  she  was 
burnt  after  saving  every  thing  of  value  on  board.  Her 
stores  and  ship's  company  will  strengthen  the  remaining 
ships. 

The  loss  of  the  Berwick  was  the  most  unfortunate  thing 
in  the  world.  She  was  to  have  sail'd  several  days  before. 
She  actually  sail'd  the  night  before  from  San  Fiorenzo  to 
join  the  Admiral  at  Leghorn  and  if  she  could  have  con- 
tinued her  course  that  night  she  would  have  been  safe, 
but  some  accident  of  wind  and  weather  forced  her  back 
to  San  Fiorenzo.  She  sail'd  again  next  morning  by  day- 
light and  drop'd  into  the  jaws  of  the  enemy  at  Cape 
Corse.  Another  misfortune  was  the  loss  of  the  Captain, 
a  very  brave  and  good  officer.  He  was  killed  nearly  by 
the  first  shot,  and  after  his  death  all  seems  to  have  been 
in  confusion.  Little  or  no  resistance  seems  to  have  been 
made  afterwards. 

The  French  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  lost  by  their 
cruise.  They  have  lost  two  ships,  of  which  we  can  make 
no  use  for  want  of  hands  and  masts.  We  have  lost  two 
ships,  one  of  which  will  be  fitted  out  against  us  imme- 
diately. But  the  arrival  of  the  two  first  ships  from 
England  gives  us  a  clear  advantage.  We  had  13  ships  of 
the  line  including  the  Neapolitan,  against  15 — we  have 
now  15  against  14 ;  and  although  one  of  ours,  the 
Courageux,  is  dismasted  and  is  out  of  service  for  the 
present,  the  other  14  are  much  superior  to  the  Enemy  in 
number  of  guns  and  size  of  the  ships,  as  well  as  in  skill 

*  In  this  action  Admiral  Hotham  captured  two  French  ships,  the 
Ca  Ira  and  the  Censeur. 


1795]  ADMIRAL  HOTHAM'S  ACTION  291 

and  discipline  and,  I  hope,  bravery.  We  have  gained  in 
point  of  honour  by  this  action.  Captain  Freemantle's 
engaging  the  Ca  Ira,  one  of  the  largest  80  gun  ships,  with 
a  frigate  was  one  of  the  most  distinguish'd  actions  which 
has  happen 'd  in  the  war  ;  and  Captain  Nelson's  64  gun  ship 
which  succeeded  Freemantle  in  the  attack,  seem'd  little 
more  than  a  frigate  by  that  great  ship.  The  prisoners 
speak  with  great  admiration  of  those  two  ships,  I  mean 
the  Inconstant,  and  the  Agamemnon.  The  Illustrious  and 
Courageux  both  acquired  much  honour.  The  Courageux, 
Captain  Montgomery,  was  three  hours  in  close  action,  and 
came  out  of  it  a  complete  wreck.  The  main  body  of  the 
French  fleet  certainly  declined  the  battle,  and  in  circum- 
stances which  seem  to  render  that  conduct  unjustifiable  ; 
but  the  two  ships  that  were  obliged  to  fight  certainly 
made  a  noble  battle  of  it.  The  captain,  now  a  prisoner, 
says  he  should  not  have  fought  so  long  or  sacrificed  so 
many  of  his  People  if  he  had  not  expected  his  own  fleet 
to  come  down  and  support  him  every  minute.  I  invited 
the  five  principal  officers  to  dine  with  me,  on  their  way 
to  Corse  where  they  are  to  have  their  Parole.  The  Captain 
of  the  Ca  Ira  is  an  intelligent  fellow  and  has  something  of 
the  manners  and  language  of  a  gentleman,  tho'  these 
qualities  do  not  overflow  even  in  him.  The  rest  are  such 
ragamuffins  as  have  seldom  been  seen  out  of  France. 
They  are  horribly  ugly  with  a  strong  Banditti,  or  rather 
hangman,  cast  of  countenance,  and  in  manners  and 
address  are  about  the  pitch  of  the  mate  of  a  guineaman. 
They  have  fought  resolutely,  however,  and  have  thus 
extorted  a  sort  of  respect. 

The  arrival  of  the  Blenheim  and  Bombay  Castle  was  a 
providential  thing.  They  came  into  San  Fiorenzo  while 
the  French  fleet  was  off  Cape  Corse,  almost  in  sight.  If 
the  enemy  had  been  a  few  leagues  to  the  westward  they 
must  have  been  taken  with  a  naval  store  ship,  and  7  or  8 
merchantmen  under  their  convoy. 

Now  for  grievances  or  ill  fortune, — These  two  ships 


292  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

were  detach'd  by  Lord  Howe  at  Sea,  without  having 
suspected  that  they  were  to  come  here,  having  nothing 
on  board  for  the  Mediterranean,  and  being  short  of  stores 
— while  other  ships  along  with  Lord  Howe  which  were 
full  of  many  things  much  wanted  here  and  intended  for 
us,  were  retain'd.  I  flatter  myself,  however,  that  they 
may  yet  be  coming  on  with  the  convoy.  Another  mis- 
fortune and  a  serious  one  is  that  of  four  naval  store  ships 
only  one  has  arrived  and  it  is  that  one  which  has  the  least 
material  articles  on  board.  The  Campbell  which  had 
masts,  the  grave  desiderata  at  present,  has  somehow  or 
other  been  prevented  from  coming  on,  and  there  seems 
some  uneasiness  about  her  as  well  as  the  bulk  of  the 
Mediterranean  convoy  on  account  of  a  gale  of  wind 
which  happened  soon  after  the  Blenheim  left  Lord  Howe. 
I  hope  with  all  my  heart  Lord  Hood  is  now  on  his  passage 
with  the  remainder  of  the  reinforcement ;  for  in  our 
present  state  another  victory  might  undo  us  ;  and  it  must 
be  remember 'd  that  five  ships  are  on  the  stocks  at  Toulon, 
of  which  we  are  assured  that  two  will  be  launched  this 
month.     This  article  should  by  no  means  be  neglected. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  with  certainty  what  object  the 
French  fleet  had  in  coming  out.  All  the  prisoners  say 
positively  that  it  was  intended  to  fight  Admiral  Hotham 
and  make  a  decisive  day  of  it.  I  believe,  however,  they 
thought  our  fleet  dispersed  and  crippled  by  their  former 
tempestuous  cruise,  and  when  they  saw  14  sail  of  the 
line  ready  to  act,  they  possibly  altered  their  plan.  It 
wasobjected  to  the  Captain  of  the  Ca  Ira,  when  he  said 
their  object  was  to  fight  our  fleet,  that  they  would  not 
in  that  case  have  embarked  so  many  troops,  field  and 
battering  artillery,  &c.  He  accounted  for  these  things 
by  saying  that  the  first  intention  had  been  to  bring  out 
the  transports,  with  all  the  troops,  for  an  expedition, 
together,  and  that  there  not  being  room  in  the  transports 
for  all  the  troops,  they  had  embarked  a  considerable 
number  on  board  the  ships-of-war ;  that  after  that  was 


1795]  GENERAL  PAOLI  293 

done  the  plan  was  altered,  and  it  was  suddenly  deter- 
mined that  the  Fleet  should  first  engage  the  Enghsh,  and 
then  return  for  the  transports.  In  this  manner  they 
came  out  with  the  troops  which  had  been  put  on  board 
on  a  different  Idea.  I  rather  think  this  likely  to  be  the 
truth.  It  is  at  least  the  most  probable  account  of  the 
matter.  I  cannot  say  positively  what  the  intended 
expedition  was  to  be.  But  as  it  is  pretty  certain  that 
General  Gentili,  and  the  former  municipality  of  Bastia 
were  on  board  the  fleet,  it  does  seem  likely  that  Corsica 
was  the  object — and  it  probably  continues  to  be  so. 

Our  Parliament  goes  on  more  smoothly  than  most 
Parliaments  do.  Paoli,'-  however,  is  playing  the  old 
rogue  and  the  old  fool  most  cgregiously.  But  I  must 
not  enter  on  so  wide  a  field  at  the  end  of  a  letter.  Pray 
do  not  quote  me,  or  at  least  only  to  persons  of  confidence, 
concerning  Paoli. 

P.S.  We  are  all  well.  I  am  to  be  leit  alone,  nowever, 
in  the  hot  weather,  as  Lady  Elliot  is  afraid  to  trust  this 
climate  with  the  children  during  the  unhealthy  season. 
She  proposes  to  pass  the  summer  at  Lucca  baths. 

Notwithstanding  the  measures  you  have  taken  for 
assisting  us  with  foreign  troops,  I  cannot  part  with  the 
hope  that  some  British  are  intended  for  us,  and  may 
already  be  on  their  passage  hither.  Captain  Barclay  of  the 
Blenheim  conceived  that  the  29th  and  another  Regiment 
were  coming  out  with  the  convoy  ;  but  this  report  is  too 
agreeable,  and  at  the  same  time  too  vague,  to  be  relied 
on.  It  is,  nevertheless,  undoubtedly  true  that  the  number 
of  British  now  in  Corsica  is  much  too  small,  even  on  the 
supposition  of  Foreign  corps  being  made  effective  in  any 
reasonable  time.  The  nature  of  the  service  does  not 
admit  of  the  Foreign  troops  being  employ 'd  either  wholly 
alone  or  with  a  very  great  superiority  of  numbers.  The 
Emigrant^mind  has,  indeed,  of  late  been  so  much  on  the 
wheel,  and  at  this  moment  has  such  a  strong  determina- 

1  Pasquale  de  Paoli  (i 726-1 807),  Corsican  patriot  and  generaJ. 


294  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

tion,  as  Physicians  say,  towards  France,  that  in  circum- 
stances at  all  critical  they  are  not  to  be  much  trusted  ; 
especially  in  this  country  which  is  a  recent  conquest  from 
France,  to  which  not  one  Frenchman  that  I  have  yet  seen 
can  bring  himself  to  subscribe.  Our  British  numbers, 
small  as  they  are,  must  decrease  dayly,  if  not  supplied. 
Besides  the  natural  and  constant  causes  of  diminution  in 
all  numbers,  we  have  the  climate  to  assist  in  reducing 
us,  and  it  is  material  to  recollect  that  there  are  very  few 
of  our  soldiers  who  had  not  a  few  months  ago  had  in- 
termittent fevers,  which  leave  a  permanent  debility  and 
render  a  relapse  always  likely  ;  so  that  either  by  the 
fatigue  of  service,  if  any  should  occur,  or  by  the  return 
of  the  unhealthy  season,  which  begins  in  July,  we  must 
expect  to  dwindle  to  little  short  of  nothing.  Mr.  Dundas 
has  given  me  hopes  of  1000  men  in  February,  and  I  there- 
fore still  hope.  My  grand  reliance  is,  however,  still  on 
Lord  Hood  and  his  naval  reinforcement.  He  is, 
indeed,  much  wanted  here  himself — very  much.  This 
is  for  your  very  private  and  confidential  ear.  If 
anything  should  prevent  Lord  Hood  from  coming  out, 
measures  should  be  taken  to  leave  Sir  Hyde  Parker  ^  in 
the  command.  He  is,  in  that  profession,  in  the  very  first 
form,  and  perfectly  master  of  this  business,  having  been 
Captain  of  the  fleet  under  Lord  Hood  last  year,  and  com- 
manding a  division  of  the  fleet  ever  since.  These  things 
are  amazingly  material,  and  the  choice  of  men  for  difficult 
and  important  situations  is,  by  the  course  of  business, 
and  the  invincible  stream  of  human  habits  and  affairs, 
too  often  left  to  chance.  Admirals  Hotham  and  Goodall 
are  now  before  Sir  Hyde  Parker  in  the  Mediterranean,  but 
without  disparagement  to  either  of  them,  it  would  be  a 
very  great  point  gain'd  in  the  war  to  get  over  that  diffi- 
culty. Admiral  Hotham  is  a  gentlemanlike  man,  and 
would,  I  am  persuaded,  do  his  duty  in  a  day  of  battle. 

*  Admiral  Sir  Hyde  Parker  (i 739-1 807),  subsequently  Commander- 
in-Chief  at  Jamaica  1796-1800. 


1795]       THE  SURRENDER  OF  CHARETTE         295 

But  he  is  past  the  time  of  Hfe  for  action  ;  his  soul  has  got 
down  to  his  belly  and  never  mounts  higher  now,  and  in 
all  business  he  is  a  piece  of  perfectly^inert  formality.  It 
is,  in  short,  the  sort  of  thing  that  palsies,  as  the  French 
say,  all  the  force  you  could  give  him.  Goodall  is  a 
spirited  lively  old  man  ;  but  should  not  deprive  us  of  one 
of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  admiral  in  the  Navy.  I  write 
now  as  a  very  private  friend,  and  the  matter  is  so  delicate 
as  to  have  a  doubt  of  its  being  quite  justifiable  even  from 
me  to  you.  It  seems  hard,  however,  on  the  world  that 
delicacy  should  stand  in  the  way  of  its  interests  or  safety, 
and  that  it  should  be  impossible  for  any  one  to  say  a 
useful  or  necessary  thing. ^ 


William  Windham  to  The  Hon.  Thomas  Pelham 

Hill  Street :  April  21,  1795 

.  .  .  The  state  of  general  politicks,  though  as  bad  as 
can  be  in  some  respects,  I  mean  in  the  resistance  of  the 
King  of  Prussia  (at  least,  so  there  is  all  reason  to  believe) 
is  in  others  altogether  as  good.  Every  account  from  the 
Interior  parts  of  France  confirms  the  opinion  that  a 
change  there  is  operating  very  fast ;  and  that  if  the  com- 
bined powers  would  only  remain  firm,  though  resting  on 
their  arms,  the  re-establishment  of  Monarchy  would  hardly 
fail  to  be  brought  about.  The  surrender  of  Charette  ^  is 
rather  to  be  considered  as  a  peace  dictated  by  an  inde- 
pendent and  superior  power.  What  you  have  seen  in  the 
papers  in  that  respect  by  no  means  exceeds  the  truth,  if 
it  even  comes  up  to  it.  Upon  the  whole,  if  no  violent 
change  is  made  by  this  intolerable  baseness  of  the  King 
of  Prussia,  and  you  can  keep  that  mischief  from  Ireland, 
I  am  in  tolerable  good  spirits  as  to  the  event. ^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37852  f.  226. 

2  Fran9ois-Athanase    Charette    de    la    Contrie,    Vendean    Ro3'aIist 
(1763-1796). 

3  Add.  MSS.  33101  i.  ijg. 


296  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

Dr.  Samuel  Parr  ^  to  William  Windham 

Hatton  :  May  8,  1795 

You  will  excuse  me  for  trespassing  so  far  upon  your 
remembrance  of  past  events,  as  to  believe  that  you  will 
not  refuse  what  I  am  going  to  ask  to  one  who  has  never 
been  disposed  to  refuse  you  greater  things. — Yesterday  I 
was  struck  down  with  horror  and  dismay  upon  hearing 
that  an  order  for  going  on  shipboard  had  been  suddenly 
given  to  Mr.  Joseph  Gerrald,^  a  Scholar  of  mine,  whom  Mr. 
Pitt,  furnished  as  he  is  with  inferior  learning,  endow'd  with 
talents  certainly  not  superior,  and  actuated  by  a  spirit 
more  adapted  to  the  coarseness  of  a  Convention  than  to 
the  gravity  of  a  Parliament,  has  once,  or  more  than  once, 
called  Gerrald.  Though  I  most  widely  dissent  from 
Mr.  Gerrald's  fantastic  opinions,  though  I  entirely  dis- 
approve of  his  impetuous  behaviour,  though  I  have  often 
warned  him  of  danger,  and  often  endeavour 'd  to  preserve 
him  from  guilt,  yet  I  must  in  common  with  many  wise 
and  good  men,  reprobate  his  sentence  as  wholly  unwar- 
rantable by  sound  law,  and  ever  shall  I  deplore  that  un- 
gracious and  most  inauspicious  policy  which  is  now  on 
the  point  of  carrying  that  sentence  into  plenary  execution. 

From  the  relation  which  I  bore  to  Mr.  Gerrald  in  his 
happier,  and  better  days,  from  the  admiration  which 
I  feel  for  his  mighty  talents,  from  the  opportunities  which 
I  have  had  for  tracing  many  of  his  misfortunes  and  much 
of  his  misconduct  to  their  earlier  sources,  I  cannot  think 
of  his  present  or  his  future  condition  without  the  keenest 
anguish  of  pity  mingled  with  indignation.  To  you,  dear 
Sir,  I  say  this  without  disguise,  for  you  are  a  man  of 
letters,  and  without  apology,  for  you  are  a  man  of  honour. 
Yes,  with  genius  such  as  rarely  is  to  be  found  at  the  Bar, 
or  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Gerrald,  after  a  few  hours'  notice  and 

^  Dr.  Samuel  Parr,  divine  and  scholar  (i  747-1 828). 
*  Joseph  Gerrald  (1763- 1796),  sentenced  to  fourteen  years'  trans- 
portation for  sedition  1794. 


Ha7grave,  pinxt. 


H.  Meyer,  sculpt. 


DR.   SAMUEL    I'ARK 


1795]  THE  REYNOLDS  SALE  297 

in  the  dreary  silence  of  night,  was  hurried  away  from  his 
prison  in  Scotland  ;  and  now,  scarcely  with  a  change  of 
apparel,  and  without  books  to  console  him  amidst  the 
sorrows  he  is  doomed  to  suffer  on  a  spot  where  solitude 
itself  would  be  a  blessing,  he  has  been  summon 'd  very 
suddenly  from  his  confinement,  and  thrown  into  the 
transport.  The  rapidity  of  the  former  measure  may,  for 
what  I  know,  be  justified  by  the  circumstances  of  the 
moment ;  but  the  severity  of  the  latter  is  most  wanton 
indeed. — What  I  have  to  request  from  you  is,  that  you 
would  prevent  for  a  few  days  his  being  sent  from  England, 
'till  by  the  kindness  of  his  Friends  he  is  furnished  with 
some  clothes  and  a  few  books. ^ 


Edmund  Malone  to  William  Windham 

May  21,  1795 

I  have  called  two  or  three  times  at  the  War  Office  with 
the  hope  of  meeting  you  there,  but  have  been  out  of  luck. 

I  think  you  said  you  regretted  you  had  not  bought 
some  one  picture  at  Sir  J.  Reynolds'  Sale,  as  a  Memento. 

I  purchased  one  on  speculation  for  my  brother,  without 
being  commissioned  by  him,  and  now  find  that  it  will 
not  answer  the  purpose  for  which  I  intended  it.  It  is  by 
an  eminent  Master,  Baroccio,  and  cost  42  Guineas.  I  have 
since  got  it  new  lined,  which  I  suppose  will  cost  about  a 
Guinea. — Will  you  call  any  morning,  and  take  a  look  at 
it ;  as  in  case  you  should  not  think  of  having  it,  I  will  send 
it  forthwith  to  some  picture-dealer,  if  I  can  find  one  who 
will  give  me  what  it  cost. 

I  suppose  you  know  poor  Boswell  died  on  Tuesday 
Morning,  without  any  pain.  I  don't  think  he  at  any 
time  of  his  illness,  knew  his  danger.  I  shall  miss  him 
more  and  more  every  day.  He  was  in  the  constant 
habit  of  calling  upon  me  almost  daily,  and  I  used  to 
grumble  sometimes  at  his  turbulence  ;  but  now  miss  and 

1  Add.  MSS.  37914  f.  149. 


298  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

regret  his  noise  and  his  hilarity  and  his  perpetual  good 
humour,  which  had  no  ^bounds.  Poor  fellow,  he  has 
somehow  stolen  away  from  us,  without  any  notice,  and 
without  my  being  at  all  prepared  for  it.  On  Tuesday 
Morning,  I  went  thro'  the  melancholy  office  of  examining 
all  his  papers,  in  order  to  find  a  Will,  but  found  none. 
His  family  imagine  there  is  one  in  Scotland.  I  wish  we 
could  shew  his  memory  some  mark  of  regard,  but  there  is 
no  opportunity,  for  his  body  is  to  be  carried  to  Auchin- 
leck/ 


Edmund  Burke  to  William  Windham 

June  9,  1795 

I  have  said  so  much,  to  so  little  purpose  to  our  friend 
Elliot, 2  about  the  Scheme  of  the  new  Transportation  of 
the  unhappy  fugitive  Clergy  of  France,  that  I  don't 
know  how  I  can  justify  myself  in  troubling  you  again  on 
the  Subject.  But  I  am  so  strongly  impressed  with  the 
mischief  of  this  new  exile  of  the  Reliquiae  Danaum  that 
I  cannot  forebear  once  more  to  warn  you  against  that 
measure,  both  on  their  account  and  on  yours.  At  this 
moment  the  popular  mind  is  in  a  very  unsettled  state, 
and  I  am  as  sure  as  I  live,  that  a  vast  migration,  thro'  the 
heart  of  the  Kingdom,  of  strangers,  that  will  be  considered 
no  better  than  vagrants.  Enemies,  and  rivals  of  the  Poor 
in  the  Bounty  of  the  Rich,  will  produce  an  ill  effect,  that 
no  ordinary  consideration  of  military  convenience  can 
possibly  counterbalance.  I  say  nothing  on  the  economical 
part  of  the  Question,  though  it  is  evident  that  it  will  cost 
twice  as  much  to  have  these  unfortunate  people  twice  as  ill 
off  as  they  are  at  present — where  they  are  fitted  to  the 
situation  and  the  vicinage  reconciled  to  them  with 
all  sort  of  good  will  and  mutual  accomodation.  This  is 
a  publick  Hospital,  and  applied  to  that  use.  I  doubt 
as  much  the  Justice,  as  the  policy,  of  turning  people  out 

1  Add.  MSS.  37854  f.  130.  2  William  Elliot,  of  Wells. 


1795]      THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES'S  DEBTS         299 

of  your  Hospital  when  you  have  once  possessed  them  of 
it.  Charity  has  its  own  Justice,  and  its  own  rules,  as 
well  as  any  other  part  of  human  intercourse  ;  and  if  I 
give  a  Cottage  to  a  poor  man  to  live  in  I  have  no  more 
right  to  turn  him  out  of  it  than  if  I  had  let  it  to  him  for 
Rent.  There  is  nothing  in  these  things  voluntary  but 
the  beginning  of  them.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  where 
in  the  world  can  you  arrange  them  ?  I  hear  of  Bolsover 
Castle.  This  is  like  the  Duke  of  Portland's  generosity. 
But  is  there  at  Bolsover  (which,  after  all,  will  be  a  new 
exile  to  these  wretches)  the  market  of  all  kinds  which 
exists  at  Winchester  ?  Excuse  me,  my  dear  friend,  this 
importunity.  I  believe  you  will  be  the  first  to  repent  this 
Measure. 

[P.S.]  What  the  Devil  are  you  all  doing  about  the 
Prince  ?  ^  If  you  are  not  to  consider  him  as  a  Prince, 
and  keep  him  as  such,  by  an  honourable  establishment  of 
a  Court — there  is  no  reason  why  you  should  give  him  any- 
thing on  his  private  and  personal  merits.  What  is  a 
Prince  without  people  of  distinction  about  him  ?  If  he 
were  willing  to  give  up  this  Establishment  (and  I  am 
afraid  he  is  but  too  ready  to  do  it),  he  ought  not  to  be 
permitted  so  to  do.     Fatal !  fatal  Measure  ! 

Put  the  animal,  if  you  will,  to  short  allowance.  But, 
for  God's  sake,  save  the  monarchy,  if  you  can  ;  which; 
(neither  in  the  possession,  nor  succession)  can  be  anything 
but  by  its  attendance.  The  Duke  of  York  may  as  well  be 
commander-in-chief  without  a  company  of  Soldiers,  as  a 
King  or  Prince  of  Wales  what  they  are  without  a  Court. 
It  ought  not  to  go  beyond  decorum — but  that  ought  to 
be.  He  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  as  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  Sheridan 
sometimes  represent  him — a  Gentleman.  He  is  a  prince 
or  he  is  nothing.  If  you  Ministers  are  firm — the  House  of 
Commons  may  be  brought  to  reason — and  the  Prince  may, 
by  suitable  means,  be  put  out  of  the  reach  of  future 
Debts.     Why  not  put  his  Houses,  Goods,  etc.    out   of 

*  The  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was  very  heavily  in  debt. 


300  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

the  reach  of  Executions  ?  They  are  purchased  by  the 
pubhck  and  are  the  pubHck  property  ;  and  no  private 
man,  no,  not  the  Prince,  ought  to  have  a  power  of  aHenat- 
ing  them.  Use, — as  much  as  you  please  and  even  a  Httle 
abuse — but  no  dominion.  Why  not  make  it  an 
act  of  Bankruptcy  in  a  Dealer — a  misdemeanour  in  any 
other — to  credit  him,  except  by  an  order  under  his  own 
hand,  countersigned  by  his  great  officers  ?  For  his 
private  expenses,  let  him  have  an  handsome  privy  purse. 
Abuse  let  there  be  ;  but  let  there  be  limits  to  the  abuse. 
These  restraints  are  no  humiliation.  Just  the  contrary. 
They  are  a  part,  a  necessary  part,  a  noble  part,  of  great- 
ness. They  are  only  the  meanest  beings  in  the  Community 
whose  Will  is  not  worthy  of  a  Rule.  I  really  do  not  know 
what  state  these  things  are  in.  In  my  poor  Judgement 
the  plan  first  stated  by  Mr.  Pitt  was  the  best — if  there 
was  then  a  Majority  sufficient  to  carry  it.  Now  all  seems 
at  Sea  again.  Let  the  allowance  be  what  it  will  a  decent 
Establishment  ought  to  be  kept  up.  So  far  from  being 
necessarily  expensive  it  will  lessen  the  general  Charges.-^ 

Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  to  William  Windham 

Bastia  :  August  2,  1795 
For  God's  sake,  attend  immediately  and  seriously 
to  the  dispatch  I  send  by  Captain  Moore  of  the  Light 
Dragoons  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  dated  31st  July. 
Paoli  is  throwing  off  the  mask,  and  we  are  in  a  most 
critical  and  difficult  situation.  The  grand  evil  is  the 
opinion,  now  universally  prevalent  here,  that  I  am  not 
supported  at  home,  and  that  I  am  to  be  immediately 
recall'd.  As  I  have  determined  to  fight  the  battle,  I 
really  must  be  recall'd  if  that  resolution  should  not  be 
approved  of.  If  it  is,  I  desire  nothing  to  ensure  victory, 
but  the  proof  in  one  way  or  other  that  all  these  reports  of 
my  disgrace  are  inventions  of  those  who  wish  to  mislead 
this  People,  and  that  I  possess  the  present  confidence  and 

1  Add.  MSS.  37843  f.  71. 


1795]  "  A  STORMY  MONTH  "  301 

shall  have  the  steady  support  of  Government.  But  pray 
read  my  private  letter  to  Mr.  Dundas  on  this  subject  as 
well  as  my  dispatch  to  the  Duke  of  Portland.  Col.  Moore 
is  a  true  son  of  his  father,  and  I  believe  related  to  the 
father  of  all  mischief.  But  this  is  not  official  and  is 
between  ourselves. 

The  last  action  between  the  fleets  is  a  sad  story.  But 
you  will  probably  hear  enough  of  that  from  other  quarters. 
I  did  my  duty  once  on  that  subject,  with  some  hesitation, 
as  you  know,  but  understanding  that  the  evil  is  not  likely 
to  last  long  I  am  almost  sorry  to  say  as  much  now  as  I 
have  done.  I  certainly  wish  to  speak  in  coniidence  still  ; 
for  /  cannot  attempt  to  prove.  But  pray  enquire  ;  it  is 
of  much  moment. 

I  expect  this  August  to  be  a  stormy  month  ;  but  I  am 
now  so  practised  in  storms  that  it  seems  as  natural  to  me 
as  fair  weather.  I  do  hope,  however,  that  you  will  abridge 
this  gale  as  much  as  you  can.  If  Government  had 
fortunately  spoke  out  sooner  concerning  me,  as  I  have 
been  entreating  them  in  vain  to  do  at  least  seven  months, 
this  mischief  could  not  have  happened.  I  understand 
I  am  in  the  same  favour  and  enjoy  the  same  confidence 
as  ever,  yet  every  body  here  believes  my  successor  to  be 
already  named  ;  and  of  course  the  setting  sun  has  not  so 
many  worshipers. 

When  this  fight  is  over,  I  really  wish  to  retire  and 
breathe  a  little.  I  do  entreat  you  all,  to  bring  me  home 
as  soon  as  you  can  without  inconvenience  to  the  Publick 
or  dishonour  to  myself.  My  family  is  all  well  at  Lucca 
Baths  and  return  to  me  in  October,  provided  things 
are  quiet  .^ 

William  Windham  to  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot 

London  :  August  28,  1795 

The  trial  I  have  had  of  official  life  has  not  served  to 

reconcile  me  to  it.     It  is  the  period  of  my  existence  in 

1  Add.  MSS.  37852  f.  252. 


302  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

which,  I  think,  I  have  had  the  least  enjoyment ;  but 
whether  that  proceeds  from  the  nature  of  the  situation  or 
from  my  having  come  to  a  state  in  which  the  last  period 
is  likely  to  be  the  worst,  I  will  not  venture  to  pronounce. 
I  go  doggedly  on,  however,  resolved  that  what  good  I  can 
do  shall  not  be  lost  for  want  of  assiduity,  and  enjoying,  in 
fact,  the  persuasion  till  lately  that  my  determination  in 
that  respect  had  not  been  without  effect.  The  failure  of 
the  expedition  to  Quiberon,  produced  by  a  blind  confi- 
dence and  want  of  military  capacity  on  one  side,  and  by 
the  eternal  operation  of  French  Cabal  on  the  other, 
joined  to  the  event  of  the  Spanish  peace, ^  has  brought 
things  to  a  state  in  which  that  consolation  will  probably 
be  denied  me.  As  long,  however,  as  war  goes  on — of 
which  I  hope  the  conclusion  is  still  far  distant,  I  mean 
on  any  terms  short  of  the  destruction  of  the  present 
French  system — there  will  be  still  something  for  me  to 
do.  Should  peace  ever  be  made  with  the  Republic,  I 
think  England  will  be  no  longer  a  country  to  live  in  ; 
and  in  that  case,  as  there  will  be  no  country  free  from 
the  effects  of  their  power  and  of  their  insolence,  one  may 
as  well  choose  that  which  has  in  other  respects  the  most 
recommendations,  and  with  that  view  I  think  I  shall  be 
inclined  to  choose  Italy.  If  one  is  to  submit  to  humiliation 
it  had  better  be  anywhere  else  than  in  one's  own  country .^ 

Edmund  Malone  to  William  Windham 

Cheltenham  :  August  31,  1795 
I  was  rejoiced  to  find  that  you  had  not  forgot  Oxford  ; 
and  that  there  is  some  chance  of  your  finding  time  for 
a  short  excursion  there.  I  shall,  I  believe,  leave  this 
place,  with  my  brother  and  his  family,  next  Saturday, 
and  we  steer  our  course  to  Malvern,  where  at  the  end  of 
about  a  week  we  shall  part.  I  shall  then  trace  back  my 
steps  to  Oxford,  and  hope  to  be  there  on  Monday  the 

^  France  had  made  peace  with  Spain,  July  22. 
2   "  Life  of  Lord  Minto,"  ii.  332. 


1795]  PUISAYE  A  POLTROON  303 

15th  of  September.  Just  as  I  received  your  letter,  I  was 
meditating  to  send  you  a  line  on  the  subject  of  the  un- 
fortunate Royalists.  Poor  Sombreuil's  Letter  appeared 
to  me  very  affecting,  and  our  friend  Puisaye,  if  his 
statement  be  true,  is  no  better  than  a  poltroon.  I  have 
no  patience  with  the  commonplace  talkers  here  and  else- 
where, who  affect  to  be  greatly  concerned,  as  if  these 
troops  were  sent  to  certain  destruction,  I  think,  on  the 
contrary,  that  their  supineness  in  not  attempting  any 
thing  before,  is  their  greatest  blemish  ;  and  had  I  lost  my 
friends  and  estate  and  country,  as  most  of  them  have, 
should  have  bless 'd  you  for  enabling  me  to  cut  my  way, 
at  any  hazard,  to  the  door  of  the  Convention,  that  I 
might  have  one  grapple  with  those  miscreants  who  had 
robbed  me  of  all.^ 

Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  to  William  Windham 

Bastia  :  September  30,  1795 
I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  you  for  your  letter  of  the 
28th  August  and  Postscript  of  the  ist  September,  which 
I  received  on  the  26th  inst.  by  the  Post.  I  have  never 
doubted  of  the  part  which  you  or  any  of  the  ministers 
would  take  on  this  occasion ;  but  while  the  earnestness 
with  which  you  have  taken  the  matter  up,  and  the  dis- 
patch you  was  anxious  to  give  to  the  business  is  peculiarly 
gratifying  to  me  from  a  friend,  it  is  also  comfortable  and 
encouraging  in  the  affair  itself,  as  it  shews  that  you  have 
a  due  sense  of  the  urgency  and  importance  of  the  occasion. 
You  will  think  it  odd  that  I  have  kept  this  letter,  gratifying 
as  it  is,  a  profound  secret,  but  as  I  propose  to  forbear  from 
strong  measures,  till  I  can  give  to  them  the  full  weight  of 
the  King's  declared  authority  and  commands,  and  as  the 
Enemy  observes  during  this  interval  of  expectation,  the 
same  reason  that  I  do,  professing,  still,  submission  to  the 
King,  and  boasting  of  his  support,  I  think  it  best  to  let  him 
keep  the  People  in  that  Course,  till  I  am  ready  to  act. 

1  Add.  MSS.  37854!.  132. 


304  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

For  if  any  interval  were  to  pass  after  it  was  known  with 
certainty  that  I  shall  be  supported  at  home,  he  might  be 
tempted  perhaps  to  prepare  his  people  for  resistance  even 
to  the  King,  while  there  is,  I  hope,  a  chance  of  his  throwing 
the  game  up,  or  being  deserted  in  it,  when  the  loss  of  their 
English  support,  and  the  attack  that  will  be  made  on 
them  in  Corsica  come  upon  them  at  the  same  moment. 

I  am  in  hourl}^  expectation  of  the  messenger  you 
promised  me,  and  I  am  not  without  hopes  of  terminating 
this  disagreeable  business  within  the  month  of  October. 
But  who  can  answer  for  the  cause  of  Revolutions  and  in- 
surrections ?  In  the  mean  while  Lady  Elliot  and  my 
family  are  making  their  grand  tour,  and  scouring  Rome 
and  Naples.  I  do  not  wish  to  have  them  here  in  the 
moment  of  projection,  and  they  will  have  finish'd  their 
journey  by  the  time  I  shall  be  ready  to  receive  them.  It 
is  somewhat  tantalizing  to  have  been  two  years  in  the 
Mediterranean,  and  breathing  the  spray  of  the  Mare 
Tyrrhenum  without  having  seen  Rome.  I  shall  be  as  long 
in  getting  to  the  Tiber  as  ^neas  was  ;  though  I  have  as 
great  a  desire  to  go  from  Corsica  to  Rome  as  Seneca  had, 
when  he  was  in  my  present  neighbourhood.  The  Tower 
which  he  inhabited  exists  still,  and  is  about  six  or  eight 
hours  ride  from  hence. 

My  life  at  this  moment  would  be  intolerable  if  it  were 
not  for  Frederick  North.  I  cannot  express  how  much 
comfort  and  relief  I  find  in  his  company,  or  how  much 
real  assistance  I  derive  from  his  abilities  and  application 
in  business.  His  talents  for  business  and  his  qualifica- 
tions as  a  man  of  business  are  very  much  superior  to 
what  those  friends  who  have  known  him  only  as  an  idle 
man  may  have  allow'd  him,  and  I  really  do  not  know  any 
bod}^  whom  I  should  name  as  better,  or  so  well,  fitted  for 
the  foreign  line.  I  say  this  with  perfect  sincerity  and 
you  may  trust  me  in  it,  notwithstanding  my  private 
regard  for  him.  Considering  you  as  no  less  his  friend,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  tell  you  now  that  the  great  and 


1795]  ELLIOT  IN  CORSICA  305 

perhaps  extreme  object  of  his  ambition  and  wishes  is  a 
Mission  to  one  of  the  Italian  courts — Tuscany,  Rome  or 
Naples.  I  believe  he  would  prefer  Rome  to  every  thing 
else,  but  that  hangs  on  so  many  doubts  and  considerations 
that  he  puts  it  out  of  the  question,  and  then  Naples  is 
the  thing,  if  it  should  fall  in  his  time — and  Florence, 
though  not  best,  would  be  consider 'd  by  him  as  excellent. 

As  for  myself  I  wish  most  earnestly  to  be  amongst  you 
again.  I  have  already  said  that  while  there  is  any  thing 
like  danger  or  difficulty  here  nothing  shall  induce  me  to 
go,  but  being  turn'd  out,  or  an  opinion  that  somebody 
else  might  be  more  useful  than  myself.  But  I  really  can- 
not pass  another  summer  here.  If  I  did  I  must  again  be 
separated  from  my  family,  whom  I  must  send  to  England 
for  the  sake  of  my  boys,  and  whom  I  cannot  expose  again 
to  another  Italian  summer  even  if  it  were  not  high  time  to 
have  them  at  school.  I  shall  have  been  out  of  England  two 
years  and  a  half,  go  when  I  may,  having  expected  an 
absence  only  of  some  months.  I  never  liked  foreign  life, 
though  the  peculiarity  of  my  present  situation,  with  the 
views  I  had  and  have  of  its  probable  influence  on  the 
happiness  of  our  Country  and  prosperity  of  another, 
made  it  highly  gratifying  to  me.  But  having  performed 
my  task  here,  as  I  reckon  that  I  have,  my  views  and  wishes 
whether  publick  or  private  all  point  strongly  homewards 
and  I  think  myself  now  entitled  to  be  relieved. 

I  have  told  the  Duke  of  Portland  that  if  Paoli's  present 
mischief  is  defeated  and  things  are  settled  as  I  trust 
they  will  very  soon,  my  wish  is  to  have  leave  to  go  to 
Italy  at  Christmas  or  the  New  Year,  make  my  tour,  of 
about  two  months,  and  then  return  to  England  in  the 
Spring.  My  successor  might  come  in  Spring,  and  North 
in  the  mean  while  would  carry  on  the  business  here 
perfectly  well.  This,  in  a  private  view,  would  be  the  best 
for  me.  But  if  a  fit  man  is  ready,  let  him  come,  and  I 
will  resign  my  vice-crown  the  moment  he  arrives.  Only, 
for  God's  sake,  let  the  choice  be  good  for  this  one  turn. 

I  u 


3o6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 


vJ 


May  I  beg  you  to  communicate  all  this  confidentially  to 
Mr.  Dundas  on  whose  friendship  as  well  as  on  that,  I 
hope,  of  Mr.  Pitt,  I  may  rely  for  complying  with  my  very 
earnest  wishes,  by  preparing  my  return  at  the  time  I  have 
mention 'd.  It  is  proper  to  observe  at  the  same  time  that 
this  matter  should  be  as  private  as  possible,  as  any  notion 
of  my  approaching  departure  might  do  harm  at  this 
moment. 

You  cannot  imagine  how  valuable  any  thing  you  can 
now  and  then  snatch  a  moment  to  drop  on  the  affairs  and 
events  near  you  is  here.  I  felt  the  Quiberon  disaster 
severely  before  I  supposed  that  you  was  particularly  con- 
nected with  it.  But  seeing  the  causes  of  that  failure; 
which  belong  only  to  peculiar  circumstances  in  the 
execution,  and  not  to  the  plan  or  principle,  I  hope  you 
are  sturdy  enough  to  be  consoled,  so  far  as  your  own 
feelings  are  concern'd,  by  having  been  the  first  to  push 
into  practice  that  great  principle  of  giving  support  to  the 
Vendee,  which  I  think  remains  as  unimpeach'd  as  before 
that  accident  had  disappointed  the  first  attempt  of  that 
nature. 

Things  are  at  this  moment  in  a  situation  as  yet  untried. 
We  have  heard  of  the  Convention's  having  left  Paris  and 
taken  refuge  with  the  army  ;  but  this  is  all  we  know  of 
the  matter  ;  and  the  wind,  by  detaining  our  packets, 
has  kept  us  some  days  in  suspence  concerning  the  cause, 
the  extent  or  the  tendency  of  this  revolution.  The 
situation  is  new  and  may,  therefore,  produce  new  conse- 
quences. I  think  it  must  do  good,  in  some  degree  or 
other.  But  as  all  will  be  known  before  you  read  any 
speculations  we  can  make  here  on  this  event,  I  may  as 
well  spare  you  the  trouble  of  stale  conjectures.  I  beg 
you  to  remember  me  most  kindly  to  the  Legges.  I  must 
not  think  of  such  persons,  or  of  such  comforts  as  their 
names  bring  to  one's  mind,  till  you  tell  me  that  I  have  a 
prospect  of  enjoying  them.^ 

1  Add.  MSS:  37052  f.  254.- 


1795]       THE  UNFORTUNATE  ROYALISTS  307 

William  Windham  to  Lord  Grenville 

October  11,  1795 
It  becomes  very  urgent  as  well  as  important  to  come 
to  some  determination  as  to  the  supply  of  stores  and 
money,  when  we  can  give  nothing  else  to  the  unfortu- 
nate Royalists  ;    who  are  still  contending  with  zeal  and 
energy,  unconscious  of  the  changes  that  are  taking  place, 
and  still  supposing  that   they  have   a  country  behind 
ready  to  support  their  efforts  at  least  by  feeding  their 
wants  :    and  to  prevent,  for  a  long  while  to  come,  the 
powers  of  the  Convention  from  being  wholly  turned  to 
their  destruction.     We  shall  really  risk  something  more 
than  injury  to  a  cause  which  includes  all  other  causes,  if, 
as  long  as  we  maintain  the  war,  and  till  we  formally 
apprize  the  Royalists  that  they  must  no  longer  count 
upon  our  support  (a  notification,  by  the  way,  which  our 
former  declarations  hardly  leave  us  the  liberty  to  make), 
we  do  not  continue  to  afford  them  all  such  assistance  as 
we  cannot  show  to  be  actually  out  of  our  power.     As  it 
stands  at  present,  orders  are  preparing  to  a  large  amount, 
and  with  reasonable  dispatch,  for  clothing   and  other 
necessaries  of  that  sort  ;    powder  is  sent,  or  on  its  way, 
to  the  amount  of  more  than  1000  barrels    (eight  or  nine 
thousand  would  not  be  too  much,  supposing  the  thing  to 
go  on)  and  authority  is  given  to  send  by  opportunities, 
as  they  occur,  such  additional  quantities  as  the  stores 
at  Portsmouth  may  furnish,  and  the  demands  of  other 
service  can  spare.     Arms  will  be  supplied,  not  in  large 
quantities,  but  in  such  as  the  numbers  manufactured  and 
the  demand  for  other  service  can  admit ;  and,  lastly, 
50,000/.  has  been  sent  out  with  General  Doyle, ^  exclusive 
I  believe  of  10,000/.  intended  for  the  payment  of  his  own 
army,  and  which  is  now  in  great  part  expended  ;    and 
50,000/.  more  has  lately  been  sent  out  by  the  Rohusta. 
This  is  the  whole,  I  believe,  of  what  has  hitherto  been 
^  General  (afterwards  Sir  John)  Doyle  (1750  ?-i834). 


3o8  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

done ;  and  this,  for  the  present  moment,  and  for  Charette's 
army,  may  be  sufficient ;  though  certainly  it  is  at  this 
moment  that  that  army  may  be  most  pressed,  and  when 
a  large  sum  of  money  ready  to  be  instantly  applied  might 
produce  an  effect,  either  of  obtaining  good  or  averting  evil, 
which  could  not  be  hoped  from  tenfold  such  sums  at  a 
later  period.  But  we  must  recollect  that  Charette's 
army  is  only  a  part  of  the  Royalist  force  ;  and  of  that 
force  which  even  his  success  and  safety  requires  to  be 
maintained.  There  is  the  whole  of  the  force  under 
Puisaye,  including  Scepeau's  army,  which  has  now  elected 
him  as  their  chief.  There  is  a  large  district  under  M.  de 
la  Vieuville,  whose  conduct  has  been  in  the  highest  degree 
meritorious  ;  and  another  still  larger  district,  and  under 
the  direction  of  a  person  equally  meritorious,  M.  de 
Frotte.  Neither  of  these  three  armies  can  well  receive 
assistance  directly  from  Monsieur,^  nor  with  100,000/., 
pressed  as  he  is  likely  to  be,  could  he  well  spare  any.  I 
would,  if  my  own  judgment  were  to  direct,  send  without  a 
moment's  delay  a  sum  of  money  to  each  of  these.  A 
very  moderate  or  inconsiderable  one  would  be  sufficient  ; 
20,000/.  to  Puisaye,  and  10,000/.  to  each  of  the  others,  or 
even  10,000/.  to  Puisaye,  and  5000/.  to  the  other  two. 
Nor  would  there  be  any  difficulty  of  finding  agents  to 
whom  I  should  feel  no  hesitation  of  trusting.  To  Puisaye, 
indeed,  it  should  be  conveyed  from  Quiberon.  To  M.  de 
Frotte  means  might  be  found  of  conveying  it  from  St. 
Marcout  [Marcouf]  quarters.  With  M.  de  la  Vieuville 
a  constant  communication  is  kept  up,  as  you  may  have 
observed,  from  Jersey.  To  none  of  these  should  I  feel  the 
least  scruple  of  confiding  sums  to  a  much  larger  amount, 
with  a  full  confidence  of  their  being  fairly  applied  to  their 
proper  purpose.  M.  Frotte  is  a  man  strongly  recom- 
mended, and  who  has  shown  himself  perfectly  devoted  to 
the  general  cause.     M.  Vieuville,  with  the  same  proofs 

1  CharlesPhilippe,Cointed'Artois,  Charles  X(  1757-1 836).    See  vol.  i. 
p.  191  note  I, 


1795]  THE  BOURBON  CAUSE  309 

from  conduct,  is  the  heir  of  property  in  Brittany  to  a 
great  amount.  Of  Puisaye,  though  I  have  often  had 
reason  to  complain  of  rather  too  great  magnificence  in 
the  expenditure  of  pubhc  money,  I  have  never  had  the 
smallest  reason  to  doubt  of  the  integrity  and  correctness 
as  to  all  views  of  private  emolument,  or  of  idea  of 
appropriating  any  part  to  himself. 

Money  is  now  almost  the  only  means  by  which  we  can 
assist  them ;  for  arms  in  great  abundance  we  have  not 
to  send,  besides  the  difficulty  of  conveying  them  into  the 
country.  They  all  agree  that  with  money  a  great  deal  is  to 
be  done  in  gaining  both  arms  and  powder  from  the  Republi- 
cans; as  well  as  in  gaining  the  Republicans  themselves. 

Without  such  assistance,  all  those  who  are  here. 
Allegro,  Boisberthelot  (the  two  persons  that  went  into 
France  previous  to  Puisaye's  expedition)  and  Preigent, 
who,  though  of  inferior  condition,  has  merited  by  his 
services,  that  some  attention,  should  be  given  to  his 
opinion,  all  agree  that  the  cause  in  that  quarter  must  die 
away.  Puisaye,  in  his  letters  since  his  landing,  speaks  with 
great  confidence  of  the  force  and  spirit  still  remaining  in  the 
country,  and  of  the  means  which  he  has  of  co-operating 
with  Charette,  but  strongly  enforces,  in  order  to  give  effect 
to  them,  the  necessity  of  pecuniary  aid.  The  utility  indeed 
of  this  seems  to  be  clear.  It  cannot  but  do  good  as  far  as 
it  goes ;  and  what  is  the  comparison  between  the  value  of  50 
or  100  thousand  more  in  the  expenses  of  this  war,  and  the 
chance  even  of  the  effect  that  may  be  produced  by  it  ?  ^ 

William  Windham  to  William  Pitt 

October  16;  1795 
Though  I  have  long  seen  and  lamented  the  little  dis- 
position that  there  is  to  give  to  the  Royalist  cause  the 
sort  of  support  which  I  should  think  necessary  :  of  which  I 
cannot  but  consider  the  late  decision  of  the  Cabinet  as  a 
new  and  unfortunate  proof :  yet  there  is  one  species  of 

^  Fortescue  MSS.  iii.  137/9. 


310  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

resistance  which  I  thought  it  was  agreed  to  continue 
without  abatement  during  the  continuance  of  the  War, — 
I  mean  that  of  arms,  ammunition  and  money.  Are  we, 
however,  doing  any  such  thing  ?  Independent  of  the 
decision,  which  I  have  just  been  regretting,  and  which  will 
have  the  effect,  I  fear,  of  lessening  in  an  inverse  propor- 
tion the  facility  of  our  communication  with  Charette; 
there  are  no  less  than  seven  large  enrolments  of  people, 
that  may  not  be  improperly  called  armies,  the  lowest 
being  8000,  and  the  highest  20  or  25  thousand,  some  of 
which  are  in  a  situation  to  be  supplied  from  the  money 
sent  from  Monsieur,  even  if  Monsieur  should  find  the 
means  of  landing,  and  of  taking  that  money  with  him. 
These  have  long  represented  their  capacity  and  disposition 
to  act,  and  to  make  important  diversions,  in  favour  of 
Charette,  if  they  could  be  assisted  by  means,  and  those 
not  very  considerable  ones,  of  assembling  and  putting 
their  people  in  motion.  The  greatest  part  of  these  are 
under  the  conduct  of  people,  perfectly  well  known  to  us; 
and  on  whom  entire  reliance  can  be  placed  for  a  due 
application  of  any  sums  entrusted  to  them.  Some  of 
these  persons  are  here ;  and  for  the  others  are  agents 
ready,  on  whom  an  equal  reliance  might  be  placed. 

It  becomes  absolutely  necessary  to  come  to  some  resolu- 
tion on  this  point.  For,  as  it  is,  these  persons  are  acting 
under  a  persuasion  that  no  assistance  which  this  country 
can  give  them  of  the  sort  above  described,  and  of  which  it 
would  be  sure  of  the  application,  would  be  withheld.  To 
say  the  truth,  I  feel  myself  in  a  very  unpleasant  situation  : 
for,  having  uniforml}^  contributed  to  give  this  persuasion 
in  some  instances  more  directly,  in  others  less  so,  if  a  con- 
trary determination  is  taken,  or  if  this  is  not  certain  of 
being  acted  upon,  I  must  of  necessity  take  the  earliest 
steps  to  undeceive  them.  But  I  may  not  be  instru- 
mental in  leading  them  into  an  error  so  fatal  as  that  of 
expecting  that  which  they  are  not  likely  to  receive.  My 
own  case,  however,  in  this  respect  is  little  different  from 


1795]  THE  QUESTION  OF  SUPPLIES  311 

that  of  any  member  of  the  Government ;  except  inasmuch 
as  I  may  have  had  with  many  of  the  parties  more  personal 
communication  :  for  nothing  that  I  have  conveyed  to 
them  differs  from  that  which  is  to  be  found  in  effect  in 
various  pubHck  instruments,  both  written  and  printed. 
We  are  all, therefore,  interested  in  coming  to  some  explicit 
determination  upon  the  subject  :  and  interested  likewise, 
that  this  should  be  done  speedily,  in  order  that  no  more 
precious  time  should  be  lost,  of  which  there  has  been 
already  a  great  deal,  if  the  intention  has  been  to  give  to  the 
force  still  subsisting  in  Brittany  all  the  effect  of  which 
I  think  it  to  be  capable.  I  am  the  more  anxious  to 
understand  distinctly  what  is  intended  with  respect  to 
these  supplies,  as,  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Dundas  of  which  an 
account  was  given  me  yesterday,  I  am  apprehensive  that 
some  idea  is  entertained  of  stopping  in  degree  even  this 
article  of  supply.  Perhaps  indeed  that  alone,  seeing  the 
great  difficulty  of  conveying  arms  into  the  country,  will 
do  very  little  ;  and  that  if  other  means  are  not  employed, 
that  alone  is  hardly  worth  continuing. 

Though  the  whole  of  the  measure  of  evacuating  differs 
so  much  from  my  ideas  of  what  is  expedient,  so  far  as  I 
am  at  present  advised,  that  I  am  not  very  good  counsel 
upon  it,  yet  I  cannot  help  suggesting  that  even  with  the 
order  for  bringing  away  the  Troops,  it  may  be  very 
necessary  to  send  out  considerable  supplies  of  forage,  of 
fuel,  and  even  of  temporary  buildings,  as  the  wind  may 
very  possibly  be  such  as  to  make  a  long  interval  before  the 
embarkation,  during  which  the  troops  for  the  want  of 
these  articles,  may  be  grievously  distressed,  and  yet  com- 
munication with  the  shore  not  be  so  completely  cut  off 
as  not  to  admit  the  articles  being  landed.  With  this 
review,  whatever  is  so  sent  out  should  be  put  as  much  as 
possible  on  board  of  small  vessels. 

I  trouble  you  with  this  long  letter,  not  knowing  how 
soon  you  are  to  be  back.^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37844  f.  104. 


312  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

William  Pitt  to  William  Windham 

Walmer  Castle  :  October  18,  1795 

I  received  your  Letter  this  morning,  and  tho'  I  cannot 
but  feel  the  impossibility  under  the  present  circumstances 
of  risking  any  further  operations  with  our  own  Troops  on 
the  Coast  of  France,  I  entirely  agree  with  you  in  the 
Expediency  of  sending  liberal  supplies  of  Money,  where- 
ever  we  have  reasonable  ground  to  hope  that  they  will 
not  be  misapplied.  I  have  accordingly  given  directions 
for  procuring  as  expeditiously  as  possible  a  further  sum 
of  loo.oooZ.  in  dollars. 

The  Precaution  you  suggest  of  sending  Stores,  &c.,  for 
our  own  Troops  with  a  view  to  their  possible  detention, 
is  certainly  highly  proper  ;  and  directions  have  been 
sent  for  providing  the  most  necessary  articles.  I  shall 
certainly  be  in  Town  on  Tuesday/ 


Earl  Spencer  to  William  Windham 

Admiralty  :  November  10,  1795 

Though  you  desire  me  not  to  answer  your  Letter  of 
yesterday,  I  feel  it  so  impossible  to  let  the  matter  rest  in 
the  light  in  which  you  appear  to  view  it,  that  I  take  the 
first  moment  which  the  breaking  up  of  the  House  of  Lords 
gives  me,  to  say  a  few  words  in  my  own  justification  on  the 
charge  of  a  want  of  disposition  to  oblige  or  serve  you  in 
any  respect,  or  upon  any  occasion,  a  point  which  I  do 
assure  you  is  very  far  indeed  from  being  unimportant  to 
my  feelings. 

Had  I  not  thought  you  fully  apprized  of  the  true  state 
of  this  matter,  I  should  long  ago  have  taken  an  opportunity 
of  clearing  it  up.  I  have  in  truth  been  very  desirous 
ever  since  I  have  been  in  Office  of  doing  service  to  your 
Nephew,^  and  of  bringing  him  forward.     Though  he  was 

1  Add.  MSS.  S7844  i.  106.  2  Captain  Lukin, 


1795]        LORD  SPENCER'S  EXPLANATIONS       313 

obliged  from  the  necessity  of  the  Moment  in  the  respect 
to  men  to  wait  a  good  while  before  his  Sloop  was  manned, 
I  took  the  earliest  opportunity  possible  of  directing  that 
object  to  be  forwarded,  and  intended  immediately  to 
have  placed  him  on  some  of  the  most  desirable  Stations,  if 
at  the  Period  when  he  was  ordered  to  St.  Helena,  there  had 
been  one  other  vessel  of  the  same  kind  that  could  have 
been  appropriated  to  that  Service,  which  was  very  pressing 
and  unexpectedly  called  for.  This  unlucky  circumstance 
has  been  the  Cause  of  the  disappointment  hitherto,  for 
had  he  remained  in  any  home  Station  he  would  have 
been  promoted  long  since,  but  I  did  not  think  that  you 
could  wish  him  to  receive  another  Step  before  he  had 
been  a  single  Cruize  as  a  Master  and  Commander.  As  to 
the  Instances  you  mention.  Captains  Bagot  and  Garnier 
were  attached  to  the  Princess's  Escort  before  I  came  to  the 
Board,  and  were  to  be  promoted  as  a  thing  of  Course  on 
their  Return  ;  and  Captain  Herbert  was  appreciated  on 
the  never-ceasing  importunities  and  remonstrances  of 
Lord  Carnarvon,  who  made  such  an  outcry  about  his  Son's 
disappointments  that  I  thought  it  absolutely  necessary  in 
a  political  view  only  to  gratify  him  ;  not  thinking  it  could 
be  possible  that  you  could  for  a  moment  imagine  I  meant 
thereby  to  show  that  Lord  Carnarvon's  Claims  either  on 
the  ground  of  Friendship  or  on  any  other  ground  could  be 
held  by  me  in  as  high  an  estimate  as  yours, 

I  have  gone  into  the  detail  because  I  cannot  help  feeling 
a  good  deal  hurt  at  the  tenor  of  your  letter.  God  knows 
I  cannot  avoid  feeling  so,  if  I  am  to  conclude  from  it,  that 
any  thing  I  have  done  or  omitted  to  do  has  in  the  smallest 
degree  diminished  your  confidence  in  the  sincerity  and  real 
warmth  of  my  friendship  for  you.  I  trust  however  that 
this  explanation  may  be  satisfactory  and  I  shall  feel  the 
greatest  pleasure  in  being  very  soon  enabled  to  put  into 
execution  the  Intention  I  had  formed  of  promoting 
Lukin  immediately  after  his  return. 

If  I  should  still  have  the  Misfortune  to  appear  to  you 


314  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

to  have  been  deficient  in  what  you  had  a  Right  to  expect 
of  me,  I  can  only  say  that  I  shall  look  upon  this  as  a  very 
severe  addition  to  the  many  painful  circumstances  which 
have  attended  the  Situation  into  which  I  suffered  myself 
to  be  drawn  in  a  great  degree  contrary  to  my  own  judg- 
ment, and  entirely  against  my  Inclination  and  from  my 
Entrance  into  which  to  this  moment  I  have  experienced 
little  but  a  continued  Series  of  Vexation  and  Anxiety 
unaccompanied  by  the  consolation  which  I  flattered 
myself  would  have  counterbalanced  them,  the  satisfac- 
tion of  its  producing  considerable  publick  benefit.^ 


Edmund  Malone  to  William  Windham 

Oxford  :  November  18,  1795 
I  ought  to  have  thank'd  you  long  ago  for  your  kind 
letter,  but  you  know  the  barrenness  of  Oxford,  and  / 
know  how  little  time  you  have  to  spare.  Notwithstanding 
this,  however,  I  am  tempted  at  present  to  trespass  on  you 
for  five  minutes,  in  consequence  of  the  debates  that  have 
been  lately,  in  your  House.^  I  never,  I  think,  before  felt 
a  strong  desire  to  be  a  publick  man  : — not  that  I  could 
do  anything,  if  I  were  one,  unless  zeal  would  make  up  for 
all  other  defects.  But  I  am  quite  out  of  patience  at  the 
manner  in  which  your  side  of  the  House  argue  the 
momentous  topicks  now  before  them,  and  particularly 
with  the  long  speech  on  Monday  of  this  cold  Attorney 
General  with  his  wife  and  his  children  and  his  own  cha- 
racter, &c.  I  cannot  but  think  that  you  are  all  too  much 
on  the  defensive,  and  that  it  would  be  infinitely  better  to 
carry  the  War  into  the  Enemies'  Quarters  ;  and  to  mark 
them  out  plainly  and  directly  as  men,  who,  if  they  do  not 
conspire  and  intend  to  overturn  the  Constitution,  act 
as  if  such  were  their  intentions,  and  give  all  the  counten- 

1  Add.'MSS.  37845  f.  136. 

^  The  debate  on  the  Treasonable  Practices  Bill.      Windham  spoke 
on  November  16. 


17951       TREASONABLE  PRACTICES  BILL  315 

ance  they  can  to  those  who  professedly  have  that  object 
in  view. 

We  have  no  right  to  argue  on  the  motives  or  intentions 
of  men,  but  certainly  we  have  on  their  actions  ;  and  we 
may  fairly  say,  that  those  who  meant  the  worst,  could 
pursue  no  other  conduct  than  they  are  pursuing.  Then 
why  should  you  suffer  yourselves  to  be  pinn'd  down  to 
prove  that  the  attempt  on  the  King  grew  out  of  the  meet- 
ing at  Copenhagen  House  ?  or  out  of  any  other  specific 
meeting  ?  I  say  it  grew  out  of  that  and  twenty  other 
meetings  ;  it  grew  out  of  all  the  libels  and  seditious 
practices  of  these  three  years  past ;  it  grew  out  of  the 
French  Revolution,  out  of  French  Philosophy  and  French 
Impiety ;  and  it  grew  out  of  the  eulogiums  pronounced 
by  your  opponents  on  all  these,  and  the  support  and 
approbation  they  have  uniformly  given  to  those  men, 
who  at  the  very  moment  they  were  acquitted  of  High 
Treason,  were  convicted,  in  the  opinion  of  every  impartial 
man,  of  other  enormous  offences. 

With  respect  to  writing  and  seditious  harrangues.  Fox 
says,  they  never  can  produce  rebellion  or  overthrow  a 
constitution  ;  and  the  Civil  War  in  the  last  Century  and 
the  consequent  destruction  of  our  government  were 
occasioned  by  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  King. 
Whatever  the  War  was  occasioned  by,  he  must  be  very 
ill  read  indeed  in  our  History,  if  he  thinks  this  statement 
to  be  correct.  Did  the  continual  attacks  on  the  Church 
Establishment,  which  were  made  by  the  Puritans  for  ten 
years  before  1644,  when  the  Bishops  were  abolished,  do 
nothing  ?  Were  Milton's  and  Goodwin's  Treatises  to  shew 
that  all  the  Ministers  of  the  Church  ought  to  be  on  a 
level,  of  no  use  ?  Was  the  Buffoon  Hugh  Peters,^  who 
used  frequently  to  preach  on  the  subject  of  King-killing, 
and  who,  two  days  before  King  Charles  was  put  to  death, 
preached  at  St.  Margaret's  on  the  favourite  text  of  that 
day — "  And  they  bound  their  kings  in  fetters  of  iron,"  &c., 

^  Hugh  Peters  (1599-1660),  executed  because  he  advocated  regicide. 


3i6  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

was  this  of  no  use,  to  lead  the  minds  of  the  misguided 
rabble  to  the  point  that  Cromwell  and  the  rest  aimed  at  ? 
What  tho*  Cromwell,  who  was  at  Church  that  day,  was 
observed  to  laugh  at  the  buffoonery  and  tricks  that 
Peters  exhibited  in  the  Pulpit,  (as  Fox  and  Sheridan  may 
now  do  at  Thel wall) ,  was  the  mischief  therefore  the  less  ? 
It  is  of  little  consequence  whether  the  constitution  be 
overthrown  by  a  religious  fanatic  in  a  pulpit,  or  a  pohtical 
fanatick  in  a  Lecture  Room  or  a  Field. 

As  for  Sheridan,  and  his  idle  babble  of  the  Ministry 
having  hired  persons  to  print  the  treasonable  handbills 
that  are  circulated,  &c.,  I  should  only  apply  to  him  what 
Henry  the  Fifth  says  to  Falstaff ,  when  he  dismisses  him  : — 
"  Reply  not  to  me  with  a  fool-born  jest." 

There  never,  I  think,  was  a  finer  subject  for  speaking 
on,  than  you  will  have  on  Monday.  I  conjure  you  to 
give  it  two  or  three  days'  quiet  thinking,  that  you  may  do 
what  I  know  you  can  do  with  it. 

I  wish  you  would  run  your  eye  over,  a  tract  written 
by  Mr.  Hobbes,^  entitled  "  Considerations  on  the  repu- 
tation, loyalty,  manners,  and  religion  of  Thomas  Hobbes, 
written  by  himself ;  "  and  pubHshed  in  his  tracts,  8vo., 
1680.  There  are  some  good  topicks  in  it.  Lest  you 
should  not  find  it,  I  will  transcribe  a  little  from  it,  very 
applicable  to  the  present  times. — It  is  a  Letter  from 
Hobbes  to  Dr.  Wallis  (the  decypherer,  &c.),  vindicating 
his  own  loyalty,  and  proving  Wallis  to  have  been  the 
very  reverse  of  loyal : — 

"  Further  he  [Hobbes]  may  say,  and  truly,  that  you 
were  guilty  of  all  the  treasons,  murders,  and  spoil,  com- 
mitted by  Oliver,  or  by  any  upon  OHver's  or  the  parlia- 
ment's authority  :  for  during  the  late  troubles,  who  made 
both  Oliver  and  the  people  mad,  but  the  preachers  of  your 
principles  ?  But  besides  the  wickedness,  see  the  folly 
of  it.  You  thought  to  make  them  mad  but  just  to  such 
a  degree  as  should  serve  your  own  turn  ;   that  is  to  say, 

1  Thomas  Hobbes,  of  Malmesbury,  philosopher  (i  588-1679). 


St'r  yos/tua  Kiyuoliis,  piiixt. 


II'.  T.  Hayicooti,  scuipt . 


KICHARD    RRINSI.rCV    SHKRIDAN 


1795]  A  PARALLEL  FROM  HOBBES  317 

mad  and  yet  just  as  wise  as  yourselves.  Were  you  not 
very  imprudent  to  think  to  govern  madness  ?  Paul  they 
knew,  but  who  were  you  ?  Who  were  they  that  put 
the  army  into  Oliver's  hands  (who  before,  as  mad  as  he 
was,  was  too  weak  and  too  obscure  to  do  any  great 
mischief),  with  which  army  he  executed  upon  such  as 
you,  both  here  and  in  Scotland,  that  which  the  Justice 
of  God  required  ? 

"  Therefore  of  all  the  crimes  (the  great  crime  not 
excepted)  that  were  done  in  that  Rebellion,  you  were 
guilty  ;  you,  I  say,  Doctor  (how  little  force  or  wit  soever 
you  contributed),  for  your  good  will  to  the  cause.  The 
King  was  hunted  as  a  partridge  in  the  mountains  ;  and 
though  the  hounds  have  been  hang'd,  yet  the  hunters 
were  as  guilty  as  they,  and  deserved  no  less  punishment. — 
Perhaps  you  would  not  have  had  the  prey  killed,  but 
rather  have  kept  it  tame.  And  yet  who  can  tell  ?  I 
have  read  of  few  kings  deprived  of  their  power  by  their 
own  subjects,  that  have  lived  any  long  time  after  it,  for 
reasons  that  every  man  is  able  to  conjecture."  This 
was  written  in  1662,  when  the  old  fellow  was  seventy 
four.     Is  it  not  very  spirited  ? 

Excuse  these  hasty  suggestions,  which  have  probably 
all  occurred  to  you  again  and  again. ^ 

Edmund  Malone  to  William  Windham 

Oxford  :    November  29,  1795 

I  sit  down  to  write  you  a  few  lines  by  candlelight, 
however  ungrateful  to  my  eyes.  Some  things  that  have 
lately  passed  in  your  House  and  some  assertions  that 
have  been  uncontradicted,  have  so  provoked  me,  that 
I  can't  refrain — Facii  Indignatio — and  I  know  you 
will  excuse  my  commonplace  suggestions  for  the  goodness 
of  the  intention. 

If  ever  there  has  existed  a  Catiline  since  the  days  of 

»  Add.  MSS.  37854!.  134. 


3i8  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

Cicero,  it  is  Sheridan.    A  more  black  and  determined  con- 
spirator, I  am  confident,  never  existed. — I  know  you  have 
an  old  leaning  towards  him, — but  no  matter.     He  is  not, 
indeed,  noble,  nor  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  profligate 
and  ruin'd  nobles,  but  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  miserable 
ruffians. — What  would  Catiline  have  done,  had  he  lived 
now  ?     Would  he  not  have  begun  with   an  unlimited 
approbation  of  the  French  Revolution  in  all  its  parts  ? 
Would  he  not  have  uniformly  persevered  in  his  eulogium 
on  it,  through  every  stage,  and  through  all  its  iniquity, 
carnage   and   atrocity,   though   every   day's   experience 
shewed  the  fallacy  of  all  his  prognostications  on   the 
subject  ?     Would  he  not  shut  his  eyes  to  all  the  danger 
arising  to  this  country  from  the  wild  doctrines  grounded 
here  upon  it,  and  affect  to  treat  them  as  mere  surmises, 
while  in  fact  he  endeavoured  to  the  utmost  of  his  power 
to  realise  and  bring  them  into  effect.     And  finally,  when 
his  vile  doctrine  of  equality  had  not  spread  to  his  mind, 
and  tho'  every  sober  man  must  be  apprehensive  that  the 
common  people  cannot  for  ever  withstand  it,  yet  when 
he  finds  that  it  actually  has  not  gained  much  footing, 
would  he  not,  in  order  to  give  it  currency  cry  out,  that 
the  rich  set  themselves  against  the  poor,  and  that  they 
themselves   are   making   those   distractions,    which   they 
must  know  can  only  lead  to  their  own  destruction. — 
Should  not  then  this  man  be  shewn  in  colours  tenfold 
stronger  than  I  am  able  to  paint  him  ?   On  some  part  of 
the  arts  used  by  him  and  others,  should  there  not  be  an 
appeal  to  the  common  sense  of  mankind  ? — If  Jonas  Han- 
way  or  Sir  Joseph  Andrews,  or  any  other  man,  that  has 
devoted  himself  to  piiblick  charities  and  publick  works, 
is  for  ever  introducing  the  subject  of  the  Poor  then  we 
give  him  credit,  and  it  is  consistent  with  all  the  rest  of  his 
character :    but   without    saying   anything  invidious    of 
S[heridan]  or  others,  their  private  lives  do  not  denote  any 
such  complete  devotion  to  the  interest  of  the  distressed  and 
wretched,  and  therefore  these  piteous  complaints,  it  is 


1795]  MALONE  ON  SHERIDAN  319 

manifest,  have  no  other  object  than  to  set  the  poor 
against  the  rich,  and  to  put  arms  in  their  hands  for  the 
destruction  of  all  above  themselves ;  and  that  in  a 
country  where  there  is  such  a  gentle  gradation  of  rank 
that  there  is  hardly  any  man  but  what  places  himself  in 
a  better  class  than  what  strictly  he  is  entitled  to. 

Then,  for  the  business  immediately  before  you.  Thii: 
atrocious  and  treasonable  attack,  he  calls  an  accidental 
outrage,  words  that  a  scholar  should  be  ashamed  to  use  ; 
but  they  sufficiently  denote  the  heart  and  mind  of  the 
man.  An  outrage,  in  vi  primo,  cannot,  like  a  shower 
of  rain  or  fall  of  a  stack  of  chimneys,  be  accidental  : 
it  necessarily  denotes  something  premeditated,  and 
growing  out  of  the  heart  and  mind  of  the  person  com- 
mitting it.  When  Sir  Charles  Sedley  and  his  friends 
stripped  themselves  stark  naked,  and  walked  thro'  the 
Park,  it  was  an  outrage  against  decency  and  good  manners  ; 
but  can  any  one  say  that  it  was  accidental  ?  Did  they 
pull  off  their  cloaths  by  accident,  and  step  out  of  the 
tavern  in  Covent  Garden  by  accident  ?  But  this  is 
metaphorical,  and  without  resorting  to  it,  it  is  manifest 
that  this  v/as  a  traitorous  outrage,  and  that  whoever  does 
not  consider  it  as  such,  is  himself  a  traitor. 

Another  position  that  has  pass'd  current  and  on  which 
this  same  person  is  most  clamorous,  is,  that  all  names 
appended  to  any  petition  are  of  equal  value.  The  object 
of  this  absurd  assertion,  of  which  it  is  hard  to  say  whether 
the  folly  or  wickedness  be  greater,  is,  if  it  be  uncontra- 
dicted, to  flatter  the  omnipotence  of  his  friends  the  m,ob; 
and  if  it  be  refuted,  to  make  the  refutors  unpopular. — 
What,  on  a  great  question  of  polity,  if  all  the  principal 
landowners  in  the  kingdom,  meeting  in  their  respective 
counties,  and  all  the  principal  merchants  of  London,  call 
for  a  certain  measure  to  repress  sedition  and  to  save  the 
constitution  from  subversion,  all  these  names  are  to  have 
no  more  weight,  than  a  similar  or  I  will  say  double  the 
number  of  such  wretches  as  Mr,  Thelwall  or  Home  Tooke 


320  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

may  assemble  to  debate  or  to  petition  on  the  same  measure 
in  St.  George's  Fields  !  If  it  be  so,  then  let  wisdom  and 
gravit}' ,  and  education  and  learning,  go  for  nothing  ;  let 
all  the  judges,  and  all  the  Nobles,  and  all  the  wise  men 
of  the  land,  burn  all  their  books,  and  throw  all  their  title 
deeds  into  the  fire,  and  each  man  die  by  lottery.  At  this 
rate  five  hundred  men  of  the  city  of  York  signing  a 
petition,  from  evidently  self-interested  views  grounded 
on  the  cloathing  trade  suffering  by  war,  are  to  be  con- 
sidered with  as  much  attention  and  as  much  weight  given 
to  their  advice,  as  if  it  were  perfectly  disinterested,  and 
grounded  upon  views  embracing  the  general  interest  of 
the  whole  kingdom  :  to  state  which  is  sufficient  to  shew 
the  absurdity  of  it. 

I  am  astonished  at  that  flimzy  lawyer  E 's  assertion, 

relative  to  the  verdict  of  Juries,  passing  uncontradicted.  In 
my  mind,  it  should  be  refuted,  when  ever  it  is  mentioned. 
What,  says  he,  the  Verdict  against  Mr.  York  is  to  be  final 
and  conclusive,  but  not  so  for  the  persons  who  were  tried 
at  the  Old  Bailey  for  treason  ?  Now,  here  is  the  merest 
paralogism,  as  I  think,  the  Logicians  call  it,  that  can  be 
conceived.  The  assertion  of  acquitted  felons,  which  is  true, 
and  from  which  I  never  would  depart,  is  not  grounded 
upon  the  verdict  of  the  Jury,  but  upon  credible  evidejice  be- 
fore that  jury;  which,  tho'  in  their  minds,  it  did  not  convict 
the  prisoners  of  High  Treason,  convicted  them  (probably 
in  the  minds  of  the  Jury,  but  certainly  in  the  minds  of 
all  the  impartial  part  of  mankind,)  of  other  atrocious 
crimes,  short  of  treason.  And  so  in  York's  case  non 
constat,  but  on  his  trial  it  appeared  that  the  very  day  that 
he  was  guilty  of  a  seditious  misdemeanour,  he  was  also 
guilty  of  a  rape  or  of  homicide  or  of  twenty  other 
offences,  none  of  which  are  noticed  in  the  verdict,  so 
vice  versa  in  the  other  case. 

I  know  not  what  to  say  of  the  wickedness  of  introducing 
the  times  of  Charles  the  First  on  the  present  occasion  ; 
— the  purport  of  it  is  obvious  enough  but  the  baseness 


1795]  "  THE  BASENESS  OF  FOX  "  321 

and  malignity  of  F[ox]  in  introducing  it,  surely  should 
not  be  pass'd  by.  What,  these  times  compared, — when  our 
constitution  is  completely  settled  by  that  Revolution  of 
which  we  hear  so  much  on  every  occasion,  and  when  we  are 
the  envy  of  the  world  for  the  perfection  of  our  system  ? 
But  Charles  was  brought  to  the  block  by  the  mal-adminis- 
tration  of  his  Ministers  :  and  all  the  tumult  in  England 
at  present  and  all  the  danger  of  an  immediate  revolution 
(for  so  we  are  threatened)  is  from  the  present  unpopular 
and  wicked  administration. — Now  there  is  not  a  single 
part  of  this  proposition  that  is  not  false.  To  begin  with 
the  last.  It  certainly  is  not  true  that  the  present  Ad- 
ministration is  unpopular.  When  you  were  with  F[ox], 
tho'  I  wished  the  Opposition  most  cordially  to  he  popular, 
I  never  could  find,  that  it  was  generally  so  ;  and  it  was 
the  only  Opposition  I  ever  remember,  (I  mean  from  1784) 
that  was  not  so.  But  for  this  remnant  oi  factious  traitors, 
almost  conspiring  with  France  to  subvert  their  country 
and  to  deluge  it  with  blood,  for  them  to  talk  of  their 
popularity,  is  insufferable.  Now  it  is  equally  false  that 
Charles  the  First  suffered  by  the  mal-administration  of 
his  Ministers.  He  fell  by  his  own  vain  attempt  to  do 
without  parliaments  for  12  years,  from  1628  to  1640,  and 
from  a  preconcerted  scheme  of  the  Puritans  to  overturn 
the  Constitution,  which  was  begun  in  the  reign  of  King 
James  or  rather  of  Elizabeth.  Any  one  that  knows 
anything  of  history  knows  that  the  Puritans  in  that  time 
never  ceased  in  their  attempts  to  destroy  the  Hierarchy, 
and  if  that  be  a  part  of  the  Constitution,  to  destroy  the 
Constitution  also.  In  doing  this,  they  struggled  for  and 
established  a  few  rights  of  the  people  ;  but  with  no  regard 
for  Monarchy,  no  true  notions  of  our  present  excellent 
mixed  constitution  ;  for,  the  moment  that  they  got  any 
power,  not  contenting  themselves  with  demolishing  the 
bishops,  the  inutihty  of  whom  they  and  all  the  herd  of 
proselytes  from  the  schools  of  Geneva  had  been  enforcing 
for  twenty  years  before  the  Civil  War,  they  claimed  the 
I  X 


322  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

power  of  the  Army  and  forced  the  King  to  make  them 
perpetual  by  giving  up  his  power  of  dissolving  them ; 
two  acts  which  were  more  flagrant  and  pernicious  vio- 
lations of  the  constitution  than  any  done  by  any  English 
King  from  the  days  of  William  the  Conqueror  to  this 
hour.  And  the  Dissenters  of  this  day,  the  immediate 
descendants  of  the  Puritans,  are  not  a  whit  better, 
and  indubitably  are  equally  bent  on  overturning  the 
present  establishment  as  their  predecessors  were.  Of 
this  there  needs  no  other  proof  than  their  joining  on  all 
occasions  with  those  they  hate  most,  the  Papists,  to  effect 
their  purpose. — Witness  Ireland  lately. 

Does  not  the  personal  attack  on  you  about  leaving 
them,  call  for  a  marked  answer  :  two  or  three  sentences 
that  would  be  remembered  and  might  be  carried  away  ? 
The  leaving  of  Traitors  is  a  curious  charge.  But  be 
assured  these  perpetual  attacks,  unless  constantly  re- 
pelled, undermine.  And  in  the  Vindication,  might  not 
something  be  said  of  Burke,  a  man  whose  name  and 
memory  will  be  respected,  when  those  of  Lauderdale, 
M.  A.  Taylor,  Curwen,  and  all  the  barkers  against  him,  are 
sunk  in  the  whirlpool  of  Oblivion. 

Pray  excuse  all  this  Rhapsody — I  have  written,  as  you 
may  observe,  and  as  I  fear  all  that  I  have  stated  shews 
too  clearly,  without  any  deliberation  ; — but  I  am  hearted 
to  the  cause.     I  shall  barely  save  the  post.-^ 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe 

December  7,  1795 
Thank  you  for  your  information  relative  to  the  poor 
soldiers,  which  shall  not  fail  to  be  attended  to, — though 
I  doubt  if  anything  can  be  done.  Whatever  sum  shall 
be  given  them,  there  is  no  providing  against  their  spending 
it  before  the  time  for  which  it  was  calculated,  or  saying, 
at  least,  that  they  have  done  so.     We  are  going  on  here 

1  Add.  MSS.  37854!.  137. 


1795]         "  I  AM  SICK  OF  THE  WORLD  "  323 

in  a  bad  way,  not  perhaps  according  to  general  opinion, 
but  very  much  so  according  to  mine.  All  the  gentleman- 
like spirit  of  the  country  being  fled,  it  seems  to  me,  that 
a  descent  into  Jacobinism,  easy  and  gradual  perhaps,  but 
perfectly  certain,  is  at  this  moment  commenced.  Fare- 
well !  Were  I  twenty  years  younger,  I  would  pack  up 
my  books,  and  retire  to  some  corner  of  the  world,  where 
I  might  hope  to  enjoy  the  use  of  them  unmolested,  and 
leave  the  world  to  settle  its  affairs  its  own  way.  There 
seem  to  be  but  two  modes  of  life  to  be  followed  with  any 
satisfaction,  military  and  literary.  The  Management  of 
civil  affairs,  depending,  as  they  do,  on  the  consent  of 
others,  is  liable  to  be  thwarted  at  every  step  by  their 
sordidness  and  folly,  and  is  the  most  thankless  employ- 
ment of  all.  I  am  sick  of  the  world,  and  dissatisfied  ; 
though  not  for  anything  that  I  have  done  in  the  way 
of  publick  conduct.^ 

William  Windham  to  Mrs.  Crewe 

December  27,  1795 

The  world  is  undone  by  shabbiness,  at  least  in  this 
country,  and  by  this  sacrifice  of  the  right  to  the  ex- 
pedient. To  a  certain  degree,  it  must  be  made  ;  and  it 
may  be  the  fault  of  Mr.  Burke,  that  he  does  not  make  it 
enough ;  but  I  am  sure  that,  by  a  habit  of  erring  on  the 
other  side,  as  great  mischiefs  are  done,  though  more 
gradual  and  silent,  and  that  the  counsels  and  character 
of  a  country  become  insensibly  debased  and  impoverished, 
as  is  eminently  the  case  of  ours  at  present.  By  this 
continual  yielding,  the  higher  nature  becomes  at  last 
subjected  wholly  to  the  lower,  and  we  are,  accordingly, 
not  governed  by  Mr.  Pitt  and  others,  that  we  naturally 
should  be,  but  by  Mr.  Wilberforce  and  Mr.  This-and- 
t 'other  that  I  could  name,  and  who  have  not  only  low 
and  narrow  notions  of  things,  but  their  own  private  interest 

*  The  Crewe  Papers  :  Windham  Section,  p.  29  ("  Miscellanies  "  of  the 
Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 


324  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

to  serve.  There  are  one  or  two  of  onr  friends  that  have 
minds  of  a  more  plebeian  cast  than  I  had  been  willing  to 
hope.  I  am  not  in  this  number  including  Pelham,  whose 
views  of  the  war  are,  according  to  my  conception,  per- 
fectly just,  and  who  is  not  chargeable,  at  least  as  I  have 
all  reason  to  feel  persuaded,  with  any  mistaken  concep- 
tion, which  I  must  think  Grenville's  to  be,  upon  the 
subject  of  the  bills.  I  am  not  inclined,  however,  to 
blame  Grenville,  with  his  opinions,  for  having  staid 
away,  instead  of  coming  down  to  vote  against  them, 
according  to  a  notion  not  alwaj^s  judiciously  applied,  that 
upon  measures  of  importance  you  are  bound  in  all  cases 
to  take  a  decided  part  one  way  or  the  other.  Farewell  ! 
I  am  for  a  moment  in  better  spirits  than  I  was,  though 
it  may  very  possibly  be  for  a  moment  only.  It  is  from 
this  feeling,  perhaps,  as  well  as  from  what  I  have  at  all 
times,  that  I  have  been  tempted  to  take  up  the  pen  and 
write  to  you  more  than  I  ought.  I  must  now  go  down  to 
some  Frenchmen  that  I  have  waiting  for  me  in  different 
apartments,  and  b}^  means  of  whom  I  hope  to  improve  the 
temporary  gleam  of  comfort  that  has  lately  come  across 
me.^ 

William  Windham  to  Lord  Grenville 

December  16,  1795 
It  will  be  very  desirable  that  at  M.  de  Moustier's^ 
return  from  Portsmouth,  whither  he  is  set  off  this  morning, 
we  should  be  prepared  with  such  instructions,  as  it  may 
be  thought  proper  to  give  him  ;  and  above  all  that  we 
should  make  up  our  minds,  as  to  the  Degree,  to  which  we 
will  in  point  of  fact  foUow  up  our  Professions  of  assist- 
ing the  Royalists  ;  supposing  that  they  should  be  still 
desirous,  as  I  conceive  they  will,  of  receiving  our  assistance. 

^  The  Crewe  Papers  :  Windham  Section,  p.  31  ("  Miscellanies  "  of  the 
Philobiblon  Society,  vol.  ix.). 

2  Clement  Edouard,  Marquis  de  Moustier  (born  1779),  French 
Royalist.  In  1796  he  was  Aide-de-camp  of  Louis  de  Frotte,  chief 
of  the  Royalist';  in  Brittany,  and  later  came  to  England. 


1795]        THE  ROYALISTS  OF  BRITTANY  325 

I  urge  this  latter  point  of  consideration  ;  because  I  cer- 
tainly do  not  think,  that  we  have  acted  hitherto,  like 
persons  reaUy  intent  on  giving  their  assistance,  which 
still,  whenever  the  subject  has  been  mentioned,  we  have 
professed  to  make  part  of  our  Plan. 

In  the  Instance  of  the  Expedition  to  Quiberon,  every 
thing  was  done,  in  respect  of  supply,  that  the  circum- 
stances admitted  or  required  :  but  I  cannot  say  the  same 
of  the  Period  either  preceding  or  following.  For  these 
last  six  weeks,  stores  have  been  lying  at  Portsmouth; 
that  had  been  prepared  for  that  very  purpose,  and  were 
of  little  value  for  any  other  ;  Arms  have  been  l5^ing  there, 
that  are  not  of  a  quality  and  Calibre  to  be  employed  in 
our  service,  yet  I  have  never  yet  been  able  to  obtain 
an  order  for  these  being  put  on  board  a  ship,  to  take 
the  chance  of  such  opportunities  of  being  landed,  as  we 
have  Reason  to  think  have  actually  happened,  and  as  we 
have  too  much  Reason  to  apprehend,  are  not  likely  to 
happen  again. 

If  the  Royalists  of  Brittany  should'  at  this  moment 
have  received  any  supply,  the  Importance  of  which  it  is 
impossible  to  calculate,  they  owe  it  to  causes,  from  which 
I  am  afraid  we  can  take  no  credit.  At  all  Events,  there 
is  Reason  to  suppose,  that  if  the  Stores  now  lying  at 
Portsmouth,  had  been  sent  out  in  time  they  might  have 
received  them  into  the  Bargain,  and  so  many  more  men 
have  added  to  their  force  as  there  would  have  been 
muskets  included  in  the  supply.  All  this  might  have 
been  effected  without  the  least  Interference  with  any  other 
service  :  For  I  am  afraid  the  service  in  Question  is  not 
sufhcientty  popular  to  hope  for  any  attention,  as  long 
as  any  of  the  others  shall  remain  unsatisfied  in  any  of 
their  least  considerable  wants.  It  is  the  Cinderella  of 
the  fable,  which  is  sacrificed  in  every  Instance  to  her 
more  favoured  sisters  ;  but  which  may  prove  like  her, 
in  the  End,  the  only  one  really  deserving  of  favor  and 
affection. 


326  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

It  is  very  important  if  M.  de  Moustier  is  to  go  at  all, 
that  he  should  go  as  speedily  as  possible.  It  is  necessary 
too,  that  a  reasonable  Degree  of  attention  should  be  paid 
to  his  Safety,  and  for  this  Reason,  as  Admiral  Harvey  is 
coming  away,  that  He  should  go  in  a  frigate.  On  board 
this  frigate  it  is  very  desireable,  that  an  opportunity  should 
be  taken  of  sending  as  many  arms  as  she  can  conveniently 
dispose  of,  or  perhaps  that  a  Transport  or  two  should 
be  sent  with  her.  We  know  how  long  such  preparations 
often  are  in  being  carried  into  Effect.  It  is  necessary 
therefore,  if  they  are  to  be  made,  that  they  should  early  be 
determined  on. 

I  trouble  you  with  the  suggestion,  first  with  a  view  to 
the  paper  to  be  prepared  for  M.  de  Moustier,  and  the 
conversation  which  you  may  wish  to  have  with  him,  and 
then  for  the  purpose  of  accelerating  any  meeting,  which 
on  other  accounts  You  may  wish  soon  to  be  held.^ 

William  Lukin  to  William  Windham 

Boston  :  December  21;  1795 
I  have  had  several  opportunities  lately  of  conversing 
with  a  Naval  Officer  about  the  Quiberon  expedition, 
who  was  employed  in  an  active  situation  on  that  Service. 
It  does  in  a  great  measure  confirm  the  idea  I  had  of  M. 
Puisaye's  character  and  conduct :  the  arguments  and  repre- 
sentations of  this  officer  to  me  who  am  but  ill  informed 
are  unanswerable  :  there  is  no  head  to  be  made  against 
them  if  he  speaks  the  truth;  and  I  am  sure  he  is  quite 
unbiass'd  and  without  the  knowledge  that  his  account 
stood  the  least  chance  of  being  communicated  to  any- 
body in  power.  He  goes  so  far  as  to  say,  that  nothing 
short  of  the  most  vile  and  base  treachery  could  have 
lost  the  place,  once  in  our  possession,  and  that  it  must 
have  been  sold.  This  Man  had  great  opportunity  of  seeing 
the  different  transactions,  as  far  as  they  could  be  from 

»  Add.  MSS.  37846  f.  12. 


1795]  QUIBERON  BAY  FAILURE  327 

sea,  as  he  commanded  the  Leda's  Launch,  behaved  with 
great  gallantry,  and  absolutely  took  from  the  beach  in 
his  boat  twenty  Royalists,  tho'  under  the  fire  of  the 
Enemy's  guns,  and  with  a  boat  sunk  quite  near  him. 

He  imputes  the  failure  (as  far  I  mean  as  he  could  have  an 
opportunity  of  judging)  to  two  things.  In  the  first  instance 
to  the  amazing  supineness  of  M.  P[uisaye]  and  in  the  second 
to  the  disagreement  and  variance  subsisting  between  him 
and  M.  Sombreuil,^  arising,  I  understand,  from  the  latter 
feeling  a  great  repugnance  at  being  commanded  by  a  man 
who  was  not  bred  a  soldier,  and  whose  integrity  he  had 
reason  to  doubt.  He  adduces  as  proofs  of  the  first  position, 
that  they  took  little  or  no  care  to  throw  up  any  works 
or  mount  any  cannon  upon  their  first  landing,  that  the 
place,  tho'  naturally  the  strongest  in  the  world  next  to 
Gibraltar,  was  put  in  no  state  of  defence  more  than  nature 
has  given  it,  and  that  M.  P[uisaye]  threw  constant  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  those  men  who  wished  to  do  well,  even 
so  far  as  to  withhold  ammunition,  and  that  the  advanced 
Guard  (at  Fort  [illegible] ,  I  think)  were  positively  without 
cartridges  when  they  were  attacked,  that  Sombreuil  who 
was  evidently  the  fittest  man  to  be  placed  in  the  situation 
requiring  the  greatest  skill  and  gallantry  was  shamefully 
kept  back  in  that  part  of  the  Peninsular  farthest  from  the 
Isthmus ;  and  that,  lastly,  M.  P[uisaye]  took  himself  so 
timely  to  flight  with  his  money  that  he  was  asleep  in  Sir  J. 
Warren's  Cabin  in  the  height  of  the  Massacre.  He  next 
went  on  to  explain  of  what  vast  use  the  [illegible]  Captain 
Ogilvie  was,  in  taking  off  the  Troops  as  she  completely 
turned  the  front  of  the  republicans,  and  obliged  them  to 
desist  in  their  pursuit.  The  rest  one  is  so  sorry  was  not  put 
in  execution  that  I  shall  forbear  to  mention  it  except 

^  Charles  Virot  de  Sombreuil,  royalist,  served  in  the  army  of  the  King 
of  Prussia  and  afterwards  under  the  Prince  of  Conde.  He  was  sent  by 
the  British  Government  to  superintend  the  debarkation  of  the  Royalists 
at  Quiberon  Bay,  but  arrived  twenty-four  hours  after  the  attack  and 
was  taken  prisoner.  As  he  held  no  military  commission,  he  was 
shot. 


328  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

that  if  they  had  fled  to  the  extreme  point  their  reembarka- 
tion  raight  have^been  almost  completely  cover' d  by  the 
Venus.  I  am  aware  that  I  am  giving  you  a  bad  account 
of  transactions,  of  which  you  must  have  had  the  best,  and 
that  the  subject,  from  the  unlucky  turn  it  took,  may  be 
unpleasant.  Then  You'll  say  I  had  little  to  induce  me 
to  say  anything  about  it,  but  I  felt  that  you  would  not  be 
angry,  and  that  I  might  by  chance  throw  some  new  light 
upon  the  affair  and  tend  to  convince  you  that  M.  Puisaye 
is  not  the  best  man  in  the  World,  which  you  seem'd  to 
doubt.  It  may,  to  be  sure,  be  possible,  that,  from  the 
possession  you  have  of  his  instructions  and  his  motive 
you  may  be  able  in  a  great  measure  to  exculpate 
him.  My  relation  of  the  facts  are  the  best  I  could  gather 
from  a  person  who  was  on  the  spot  and  who  simply 
said,  and  took  such  of  the  things,  as  he  had  from  hearsay, 
for  granted,  that  the  generality  of  men  then  did  not  choose 
to  contradict.  Is  it  true  that  M.  P[uisaye]  is  killed  by  the 
Chouans  ?  No  fair  wind,  and  I  am  quite  tir'd  of  being 
here.^ 

William  Windham  to  Lord  Grenville 

December  22,  1795 
Upon  this  occasion,  and  with  a  view  to  the  prospects 
that  are  every  day  opening  in  that  country,  I  cannot  but 
lament  what  seems  to  be  the  determination  of  the  Cabinet 
that  no  derangement  is  to  be  made,  however  inconsider- 
able, of  the  general  naval  service  for  the  sake  of  keeping 
possession  of  Quiberon.  The  fleet  once  withdrawn,  it  is 
perfectly  possible  that  the  enemy  will  take  possession  of 
it,  and,  by  stationing  a  few  ships  in  proper  places,  and 
assisting  them  with  gun-boats  and  batteries  on  shore, 
make  it  impossible  for  us  ever  afterwards  to  have  any  use 
of  that  station.  How  far  this  will  be  advantageous  for 
the  mere  naval  service  may  well  be  a  question  ;  but  I  am 
sure  if  the  consequence  must  be,  as  it  must,  the  total 

1  Add.  MSS.  37912  f.  186. 


1795]  PUISAYE  ARRESTED  329 

interception  of  all  means  of  communicating  with  and 
aiding  the  Royalists,  the  general  loss  to  the  interests  of  the 
war  will  be  such  as  no  naval  advantages,  were  they  ten 
times  greater  than  they  can  be  hoped  to  be,  will  ever 
compensate.  Unless  it  shall  be  the  opinion  of  naval 
officers,  which  the  accounts  that  I  have  received  formerly 
from  French  naval  officers  does  not  lead  me  to  expect, 
that  the  enemy  may  always  be  dislodged  from  there,  I, 
for  one,  must  protest  strongly  against  that  station  being 
given  up.  Should  the  enemy,  upon  Admiral  Harvey's 
coming  away,  slip  in  a  few  ships  of  the  line  from  Orient, 
there  is  an  end  of  all  hopes  of  landing  M.  de  Moustier, 
and  much  more,  any  of  the  stores  which  it  will  be  desir- 
able to  send  with  him.  There  will  be  an  end,  too,  if  they 
cannot  be  displaced,  of  any  further  effectual  support  to  be 
given  to  the  enemies  of  the  Republic  in  that  quarter.^ 

Lord  Grenville  to  William  Windham 

Dropmore  :  December  29,  1795 
I  have  this  evening  received  your  letter  of  this  date, 
and  with  it  a  letter  from  M.  de  Moustier,  which  I  inclose 
to  you,  as  he  does  not  seem  in  that  paper  to  abandon  the 
idea  of  going.  He  rests  a  great  deal  too  much  upon  the 
reaconings  he  draws  from  his  supposed  employment  by 
this  Government.  You  know  that  the  idea  of  his  being 
sent  originated  with  the  French  themselves,  on  receiving 
the  account  of  Puisaye's  arrest.  They  proposed  as  ques- 
tions for  our  advice  three  alternatives,  of  which  the 
best  appeared  to  me  to  be  (out  of  all  question)  that  of 
sending  a  person  of  confidence  to  that  Country  with  such 
powers  as  Monsieur  could  or  would  delegate  to  him. 
They  made  the  choice,  and  having  made  it  applied  for 
a  frigate  to  carry  M.  de  Moustier  over.  It  was  then  that 
the  idea  occurred  of  taking  that  opportunity  to  convey 
arms  and  stores  into  the  Country.     He  now  seems  disposed 

^  Fortescue  MSS.  iii.  162. 


330  THE  WINDHAM  PAPERS  [1795 

to  make  the  condition  of  his  going,  to  be  our  keeping  a 
squadron  of  large  ships  stationary  at  Quiberon.  This  may 
or  may  not  be  a  wise  measure  for  us  to  adopt  in  the 
general  view  of  a  Naval  Campaign,  but  I  am  most  clearly 
of  opinion  that  it  would  be  utterly  unfit  for  me  to  bind 
ourselves  to  him,  or  to  the  Royalists,  on  that  subject, 
especially  after  the  specimen  which  the  passage  I  have 
marked  in  his  paper  gives  us  of  his  manner  of  interpreting 
promises. 

As  to  the  rest,  I  agree  with  you  entirely  and  completely 
that  Moustier's  going  or  not  going  should  not  alter  our 
wish  to  throw  stores  or  arms  into  the  Country,  and  I 
every  day  feel  more  strongly  the  absolute  necessity  of 
some  communication  with  the  Royalists  to  the  effect 
stated  in  the  note  to  the  Due  D'Harcourt  which  Moustier 
was  to  have  carried  over.  Lord  Spencer  can  best  judge 
of  the  most  convenient  and  expeditious  mode  of  answer- 
ing these  two  objects  which  I  am  earnestly  desirous  of 
forwarding  by  any  means  in  my  power. 

What  I  mentioned  the  other  day  about  the  difficulty 
of  throwing  in  supplies  related  rather  to  the  question  of 
doing  it  by  temporary  and  occasional  attempts  without 
the  possession  of  the  Bay  than  to  what  might  be  done  in 
favourable  weather  if  the  general  services  of  our  navy 
should  admit  of  our  occupying  that  station  permanently.^ 

1  Add.  MSS.  37846!.  16. 


End  of  Volume  I 


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